The American Numismatic Society 1858-1958 / by Howard L. Adelson

8/11/2019 The American Numismatic Society 1858-1958 / by Howard L. Adelson

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THE AMERICANNUMISMATIC SOCIETY1858-1958HOWARD L. ADELSON

NEW YORK THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY1958





Centennial Medal by Laura Gardin Fraser





CONTENTSFOREWORD ................ viiPREFACE ................ ixTHE ORIGINS .............................. ITHE EARLY YEARS, 1858-1864 ................. 1 8REBIRTH AND GROWTH, 1864-1873 ............ 33PROGRESS AND CONFLICT, 1873-1883 .......... 69OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEAS, 1883-1905 ..... IOIA NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFE, 1905-1915 ...... 141COMING OF AGE, 1915-1930 ................... 195

THE MATURE YEARS, 1931-1945 ............... 237THE PEAK, 1945-1958 ......................... 271NOTES ................ 309LISTS:OFFICERS AND STAFF .................... 348THE COUNCIL ...........................

HUNTINGTON MEDAL AWARDS ............ 374SALTUS MEDAL AWARDS ................. 375BENEFACTORS .......................... 376PATRONS ............................... 377INDEX379





FOREWORDTJ-his volume tells the story of the development of an idea born acentury ago, an idea with such vitality that it survived wars, panics,periods of discouragement and hardship. But throughout all trouble-some years of the past, one thing was never lost: faith in the future,

without which living undertakings can not develop and grow.Our Society can look backward with pride in the story of its firsthundred years; with pride in the achievements that have made areality out of the dreams of a century ago. But while looking backwardon the achievements of that past, we must remember that the anni-versary which we now commemorate does more than mark the end of a century of growth. It is far more important as the opening of a new

century with even greater possibilities of progress.Our predecessors have left to us an institution not only with greatmaterial resources, but also one with a reputation for outstandingscholarly activity. It is our present obligation, as it will be the obligationof our successors, to see that this institution grows in strength, inscholarly activity, and in standing among the numismatic societies of the world. There seems to be no last frontier for our activity if we butuse wisely the great opportunities now open to us.This volume is the second of the series commemorating our Cen-tennial. The first is the Centennial Publication, a collection of numismaticessays edited by Professor Harald Ingholt of Yale University. TheVH



viii FOREWORDpresent volume has been written by Dr. Howard L. Adelson, a staff member of the American Numismatic Society, under the generalsupervision of Dr. Wheaton J. Lane, member of the Council. Thesetwo volumes, it is hoped, will form a fitting memorial to the anniversarywhich we are now celebrating.

Louis C. WEST, PresidentJanuary 23, 1958



PREFACEInterest in coins is almost as ancient as coinage itself, but the scientificstudy of these bits of metal is actually an innovation of the Renaissance.The information that coins yield to the avid researcher is vitallyimportant in many areas of scholarship. Numbers of devoted men

since the Renaissance have spent years in the investigation of thehistory of coinage, but it was only in the nineteenth century thatlearned societies took the lead in spurring on numismatic research. Inthe United States it was the American Numismatic Society, nowcelebrating its Centennial, which furnished the leadership and gavedirection to numismatic studies.It was with these thoughts in mind that I approached the writing of

a history of the American Numismatic Society. As a mediaevalist I wascompletely cognizant of the fact that the task confided to me by theCouncil of the Society presented problems which would be new.Happily there was assistance at hand in the person of Mr. WheatonJ. Lane, an American historian by avocation, as well as a member of the Council of the Society. Mr. Lane edited the various drafts of thisbook, and the style and final form of the volume are perhaps as muchthe product of his mind as of my own. His suggestions have been in-corporated to such a great extent that it is in the truest sense a jointendeavor.



X PREFACEAt the same time similar recognition must be accorded to Mrs.Beulah Phelps Shonnard. When the Council had determined that ahistory of the Society should be written as part of the Centennial cele-bration, concerted efforts were made to secure an especially capableassistant for the author. Mrs. Shonnard was asked to undertake that

task which involved all the various phases of research. With her characteristic energy Mrs. Shonnard joined in the work of readingpractically illegible letters, moldy documents, old newspapers andjournals. Her skill at this contributed most importantly to the com-pletion of this history, and her suggestions in the course of the writingproved invaluable. This book, in great measure, owes its very existenceto the competence of Mrs. Shonnard, who not only aided in the

research and writing but also typed the manuscript.To Mr. Louis C. West, the President of the Society, I also acknowl-edge a deep sense of gratitude for his unfailing interest and encourage-ment. Mr. West was my teacher in graduate school; and to my greatgood fortune, he has continued in that role to the present moment,giving unstintingly of his store of knowledge and helpful advice.Finally I must mention all my colleagues on the staff of the AmericanNumismatic Society and a great many members of the Society whocontributed to the content of this volume and aided in so many waysin the writing. These men discovered photographs preserved in their own collections and recounted their recollections of the past. Particu-larly I wish to thank Mr. Sydney P. Noe, Mr. Louis S. Werner andMr. Sawyer McA. Mosser.A history such as this is necessarily the work of many individuals.Only a few can be mentioned in a short preface. The Society itself is

likewise the result of the joint efforts of all the members both past andpresent though only a few are directly mentioned in the history. TheSociety itself and the history stand as a tribute to the many.HOWARD L. ADELSONFebruary 25, 1958



THE ORIGINS>.he scientific study of numismatics is inextricably bound withthe history and fortunes of the American Numismatic Society whichhas done so much to forward it. Interest in numismatics in this country,however, antedates the existence of any society devoted to the studyof coins and medals. Coin dealers and collectors, though few in number,

were in evidence from earlier times, but only at about the middle of thenineteenth century was there such a sharp growth of interest in therelatively unknown field that the formation of numismatic societiesbecame possible. Probably this sudden rise in the number of individualsactively interested in coins and medals was connected with the moregeneral awakening that the country was experiencing in all fields of cultural endeavor.

The period immediately prior to the Civil War was one of strongemotional attachment to the great issues which divided the nation,but popular attention was by no means focused solely on the larger political questions. The deep stirrings of a cultural revival with manyfacets were fully evident. Cultural growth on the North Americancontinent had developed noticeably in the latter half of the eighteenthcentury with the advent of a number of eminent men, prominentamong whom were Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, founder of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. The expansionand diffusion of that culture was, among the people in general, however,



2 THE ORIGINSlargely a phenomenon of the era between Presidents Jackson andLincoln.1The popularization of knowledge about the middle of the nineteenthcentury had, of course, deep social significance. This was the age of men like Emerson, Thoreau, Longfellow, Irving, Lowell, Melville,

Agassiz, and that most likeable Boston Brahmin, Holmes. New England,and Boston in particular, achieved a level of cultural activity unsur-passed elsewhere in the country, yet this high plane of intellectualendeavor was by no means restricted to one class of society. In 1829the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was founded inBoston, to be followed seven years later by the more expansive Amer-ican Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

The prevailing belief in the country among the intellectual groupswas an unwavering conviction in the idea of progress. Rousseau inEurope had pointed the way towards a democracy of good men by hiscontentions regarding the utility of education. Associationist psycho-logists created in their own minds images of man as purely the resultof his experiences and environment. It was therefore possible to im-prove man by subjecting him to the best experiences and educatinghim properly. In accordance with such reasoning the mill owners of Lowell encouraged their female employees to make use of their leisurehours reading, or listening to scientific discussions which would improvetheir minds and at the same time keep them from harm. Many wealthymen endowed institutions for the diffusion of knowledge. Not the leastof these men were Stephen Van Rensselaer, Benjamin Bussey, JohnLowell, Joseph E. Sheffield, and John Jacob Astor. In 1836 the LowellInstitute was established in Boston for the purpose of bringing dis-

tinguished lecturers to that city. By 1857 the Cooper Institute hadbeen founded to provide an education for the sons of laborers in NewYork City.This belief in the advancement of man by education had as a con-comitant force a native American belief in self-improvement. TheAmerican man was not solely dependent upon the largess of the wealthyif he was to improve himself and to provide himself with that education

which was a prerequisite for advancement. Numerous so-called"mechanics institutes" came into existence dedicated to improving the



THE ORIGINS 3educational level of the working man. Many of these groups, of course,resulted from the philanthropic aid and support of the wealthier citizens, but this was by no means true of all of them. Mechanics,tradesmen, and laborers often combined of their own accord to formdebating and lecturing societies which ministered to their desires for

education. The popularization of knowledge was a national theme.The peak of intellectual activity during this period, of course, wasachieved in New England and the surrounding areas, but it was by nomeans restricted solely to that locale. The entire country participatedin some measure in this revival of learning though it must be pointedout that the contributions were much more limited in the South thanelsewhere. Non-slaveholding states of the West enjoyed their own

measure of cultural activity as witnessed by the astounding popularityof the lectures on astronomy delivered in Cincinnati in 1846 by OrmsbyMitchel. So successful was this lecture series that the citizens of thatcity gave a telescope to Mitchel which was second only to that of Greenwich, England. In the very next year the first popular journal of astronomy, the Sidereal Messenger, made its appearance, and theresponse was enthusiastic.Cultural activity and interest on the part of the citizenry at large wasexpressed not only in the formation of lyceum groups for lectures andsocieties to further scientific inquiry such as the Chicago Historical Socie-ty founded in 1856 or the American Geographical Society establishedin 1851, but in many other ways as well. The introduction of the pennynewspaper and the vastly expanded production of inexpensive maga-zines and books, including pirated editions of the latest works of famousEuropean authors, were made possible by the introduction of the

steam operated rotary press. There was no international copyrightagreement and in some cases barely one day elapsed between thearrival of a new work from Europe and its appearance in a piratededition on the bookstalls of this country.Public libraries came into existence in profusion throughout thelength and breadth of the country, and in some cases the individualcommunities took the responsibility for providing such a service

without waiting for the benefactions of a philanthropist. In 1848 thefirst public library in Boston was authorized and in 1854 the doors



4 THE ORIGINSwere opened. This was the same year in which the Astor Library inNew York City was made available to the general populace, and threeyears later, in 1857, the Peabody Library in Baltimore was founded.These great collections were only outstanding instances of an entirenetwork of libraries to be found in individual cities and towns. Between

1825 and 1^850 no fewer than 250 libraries were established, a figuremore than twice the number of the preceding twenty-five years.Education for the youth of the country was greatly expanded bymeans of the public school, the emergence of the high school, and analmost unbelievable multiplication of colleges. In 1842 an act of thelegislature of Massachusetts required each town to maintain a publicschool. There were still certain disabilities connected with education

in most parts of the country by reason of the rate system which requiredparents to contribute at least part of the costs of the education of their children, but the literacy rate was increasing in astounding pro-portions. Even at the highest level of education in the colleges andprofessional schools, which yielded a certain social prestige to their graduates, phenomenal advances were made. In the decade from 1840to 1850 the number of colleges increased from 173 to 239. Many werefounded in the western states, and even higher education was availableon a relatively local level.New York City, because of its proximity to the center of Americanculture in New England, and because it was a cosmopolitan, thrivingmetropolis with a busy port, played a major role in the popularizationof intellectual endeavors. New York was the home of Samuel F. B.Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, who was also a faculty member of New York University. With him in this city resided a host of famous

men of letters including John James Audubon, James Fenimore Cooper,Edgar Allan Poe, George Bancroft, William Cullen Bryant, andWashington Irving. The first of the penny newspapers, the New York Sun, was founded in 1833 to be rapidly followed by the New York Herald under the aegis of James Gordon Bennett, Sr., and the New York Tribune of Horace Greeley. By 1851, the New York Times had made itsappearance on the streets of this city. It is true that the tone of these

newspapers was much less elevated than that of earlier ones and thatthere was a tendency to give the people of the city the spice which they



THE ORIGINS 5desired, but the mere increase in the number of newspaper readers isvery significant. This growth of the reading public, of course, was notrestricted to the newspapers alone. Journals and magazines such asthe Knickerbocker Magazine which began in the same year as the firstpenny newspaper, 1833, were also widely read.

Probably the most significant phase of the intellectual growth of thecity may be seen in the expansion of higher education for all classeswithin the metropolis. New York University was founded in 1831 andrapidly became the home of a distinguished faculty. In 1841 thehigher education of the ever-growing Catholic community was assuredby the establishment of Fordham University. Still there were many wholived in New York who were unable to attend colleges and universities

because of financial reasons. In 1847 the Free Academy which wasshortly to be renamed the City College of New York was founded.Education was now available to all whatever their financial status.New York, having outstripped Philadelphia, was a thriving seaportwith an unrivalled volume of commerce and a constant stream of immigrants which was swelling each year. The city was wealthy andprovided all the pursuits desired by the younger people. Theatricallife in the metropolitan area was very vigorous, and the famous starsof the stage appeared regularly. Museums such as that of Barnumwere very much in evidence, and lists of amusements were publishedin the newspapers. For men of letters there was the famous "Bread andCheese Club" formed in 1824 as a society of authors. The vigorousrenaissance which was taking place in the country as a whole wascertainly mirrored within New York City.This cultural ferment was, however, not equally effective in all fields

of scholarly endeavor. In the case of numismatic studies the first half of the nineteenth century must be considered a relatively barren andunrewarding period in this country. Only at the very end of the periodwas there evidence of growing interest. The general activity whichwas so much in evidence in other fields was sadly lacking in the studyor collecting of coins and medals. It is questionable whether there wereactually three hundred numismatic collectors to be found in the United

States in the year 185O.2 Certainly some of those who did engage innumismatic pursuits did acquire valuable collections, but there was



6 THE ORIGINSnot as yet any broad public interest. The cultural horizon was active,as has been pointed out, but it did not include numismatics. Obviouslya particular stimulus or series of stimuli were required to create theinterest in coins and medals which would make their scientific studypossible.

Those few collectors who prior to 1850 had begun to assemble andstudy the coins and medals which passed through their hands did sofor many different reasons, none of which was applicable to the publicat large. One of the best known of these early American numismaticcollections was that of Joseph J. Mickley, a wealthy piano manufacturer of Philadelphia. Mickley began his hobby, for such it really was, in1823 with the search for a cent of 1799 in fine condition, simply be-

cause he was born in that year and desired to have a cent of that datesince he had heard that they were rare.3 In the course of his efforts tosecure a fine specimen, Mickley enlisted the support of his friends.One of these presented Mickley with a very fine specimen of a cent of 1798, and this piece was the first in the formation of the MickleyCollection. The collector's instinct had been aroused.There is, of course, an apocryphal ending to this story which iscontained in the account given by Edward Cogan, the New York coindealer. According to him, Mickley was unable to secure, even as lateas 1867, a fine sample of the cent of 1799. This romantic tale must bediscounted because in 1867 Mickley was robbed of approximately$16,000 worth of coins, and he immediately determined to sell theremainder at public auction. The sale catalogue of that auction listsa cent of 1799 which is described as "Very fine indeed, having beenbut little in circulation, one of the best ever offered for sale, the rarest

of American Cents."4Cogan seems to have entered the coin trade quite accidently inthe late 185o's. He had originally come to this country in 1853 fromEngland, and settled in Philadelphia as a dealer in pictures and books.In the latter part of 1856, a friend of his named Ryan brought anelectrotype Washington Cent of 1792 to the store in Philadelphia andpersuaded Cogan to purchase it for twenty-five cents. Of course Cogan

displayed his recent acquisition as a curiosity to his friends and ac-quaintances. One who chanced to view it offered Cogan fifty cents



THE ORIGINS 7for it, and this experience seems to have banished all thought of numismatics as a mere curiosity. Ryan had told Cogan that a centwith the date 1815 would be worth at least five dollars and that therewas a growing demand for United States cents. Gogan immediatelyset about collecting a complete set beginning with the year 1793, but

he assures us that at that moment he still had not the slightest notion"of ever making it a matter of business." In any event, he continued inthe role of the avid collector until 1858, when he realized that thedemand for coins was increasing and that the supply was quite adequateto sustain coin trading. Cogan now commenced disposing of hisduplicates by sale. Soon he was devoting greater and greater portionsof his time to coin trade as a business, and he remained almost ex-

clusively a coin dealer until his retirement in 188o.5The rise in public interest in coin collecting after 1850 which madeit possible for Cogan to enter the coin trade must have particular causes apart from the general cultural awakening of the early nineteenthcentury. Cogan's career in numismatics is contemporary with the firstgreat rise in the spirit of scientific inquiry in the field of numismaticsin this country. The decade from 1850 to 1860 is particularly importantboth for the number of significant changes introduced into the Americanmonetary system and the beginnings of large scale public interest innumismatics. These two facts must be connected in a causal nexus.An examination of the changes introduced into the circulating mediumduring this period will yield the clue as to why there was a popular rise in coin collecting.In 1848 gold was discovered in California, and the great quantityof that metal which suddenly appeared on the market caused a very

marked change in the relative market values of gold and silver. Thischange exaggerated a condition which had been noticeable for severalyears. From 1844 on it was evident that silver was flowing from thecountry at an alarming rate. In that very year the exports of silver toEngland exceeded the imports from Mexico. All silver coins in circu-lation in the United States were non-fiduciary and since the privilegeof legal tender extended to include even coinage of foreign manufacture

which was also non-fiduciary, the exporters of coin were particularlycareful to retain the worst coins at home while the best pieces were



8 THE ORIGINSsent abroad. Much of the silver currency in common use by 1851was therefore seriously underweight, and a significant portion of the coinage was of foreign manufacture and not controlled by theAmerican government.The economic difficulties faced by business in a situation wherein

the currency was continually declining in quality and quantity re-quired urgent action on the part of Congress. In 1851, after muchdebate, a bill was passed to provide for the issuance of a fiduciary three-cent piece containing three parts of silver to one of copper. This wasthe beginning of fiduciary silver coinage in the United States, buteven though it was a step in the right direction it did not go far enough.The losses of silver from these shores had been tremendous. In 1850,

$2,000,000 worth of silver had been exported, but in 1851, the stupen-dous total of $23,000,000 was shipped abroad. This was more thanthe total amount of silver coined during the preceding twenty years.Of necessity, gold was pressed into service to replace silver in the larger transactions while the new three-cent piece suddenly achieved thedistinction of being the most important coin in the task of replacingsilver currency in smaller transactions. The deleterious effect oncommercial transactions of such an unstable monetary system was notlost upon Congress, and in 1853 the logical step of issuing fiduciarysilver coins in all denominations, save one dollar, was taken. Theone dollar piece was in an anomalous position with respect to therest of the coinage which was composed of gold coins of full value,subsidiary fiduciary silver coins, and unpopular cents and half-centsof copper.6After the passage of the coinage law of 1853, foreign silver coins

ceased to circulate in any quantity in the urbanized commercial areasof the country though they continued in use in the less developedregions. The new fiduciary coins drove the foreign coins from marketplaces save in areas in which those coins were almost the only onesavailable or in those cases in which the foreign silver was in such poor condition, or of such indifferent weight that it did not circulate at itslegal value. Foreign coins which met these conditions were available

from older issues of Mexican and Spanish mints. As long as these non-fiduciary inferior foreign pieces continued to appear in the market



THE ORIGINS 9place the law of 1853 could not yield its full benefits. Further actionon the silver coinage was still necessary.At the same time it should not be forgotten that there had been nosubstantial reform of the copper coinage, which consisted of the centand half-cent, and which had proven to be so unpopular. These coins

were introduced in 1793, but they had never been used very extensively,and the mint was barely able to cover the costs of manufacturing anddistributing them. There had been only minor changes introducedinto the obverse and reverse of these pieces from the date of their in-ception; and since they were not unusually attractive nor commonlyused, it is doubtful that many people examined them with any care.7The mint was barely able to cover the costs of manufacturing and

distributing them. On February 21, 1857, a new law went into effectwhich abolished the half-cent denomination and specified the detailsfor the manufacture of a new series of copper cents. This new copper cent was given by the mint in exchange for the foreign silver coinage.The right of such exchange, however, was to end two years after thepassage of this act, whereby the foreign silver pieces were effectivelydemonetized and declared to be no longer legal tender. Of course thelaw was effective in driving the poor quality foreign silver from themarket, and since it specified a change in the cent and the eliminationof the half-cent, it necessitated a new type for the cent. Even prior tothe enactment of the new law, new cents appeared in 1856 as patternissues, with an attractive flying eagle on the obverse, and in 1857 and1858, larger quantities of these new cents were issued than had ever been struck of the older types.8 In 1859 this flying eagle obverse itself was changed to the familiar Indian head type which is still so often a

starting point for amateur collectors.9Within the relatively short time of a single decade the currencymedium of the country had changed significantly. Older types andthe mass of foreign silver pieces had passed from the scene and beenretired from circulation in all save the most rural and isolated regionsof the country. New types and denominations had been introduced inquantity. Coinage changed more significantly in the decade from 1850

to 1860 than it had in the preceding fifty-seven years. The populaceat large was forced to look at and to observe the currency medium



10 THE ORIGINSmore closely because of these changes which had demonetized a largesegment of the older coinage. In line with the inquisitive nature of manand the curiosity that was such an important feature of the culturalawakening of the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the morealert and inquisitive members of society began to collect and to study

the pieces which passed through their hands. The number of suchcollectors continually increased, and it was not long before some of these men were turning to coin dealers to secure specimens of coinswhich would not have reached them by the normal channels of trade.In this fashion the coin trade in the United States was established on afirm footing and was stimulated to greater activity. Men such asEdward Cogan entered the field of coin dealing for the first time and

rapidly rose to prominence as the business expanded.10The growing interest in numismatics did not fail to create someeffect in the daily press. In the New York Sunday Dispatch for the year 1857 a series of articles entitled "Gleanings from Coins" ran throughsome eleven numbers. These articles were simply signed "Gus" andcame from the pen of Augustus B. Sage, a coin dealer of New York City.11 In these articles Sage dealt with the entire field of numismatics,but since there was as yet no dependable scientific volume dealingwith American coinage he utilized the U. S. Mint Manual extensivelyand supplemented it with his own observations. The veteran nu-mismatist and Wall Street attorney, Charles I. Bushnell, respondedwith a series of very witty articles under the signature of "Numismatist"in the same journal. Bushnell's sarcastic criticisms of the U. S. MintManual were devastating, and he clearly proved it to be a work of extremely limited utility. As a result of this tilt in the field of journalism

the two men, Sage and Bushnell became fast friends. Bushnell causeda medal to be issued in three examples with the obverse type showinga full length standing figure of Hercules with his club resting on hisleft shoulder and his right hand pointing downward at a nearlyprostrate figure at his feet. The iconographical significance of thescene was elucidated by the inscription "Numismatist for valor, toGus." One of these medals was presented to Sage, another to the

editors of the Sunday Dispatch, and the third Bushnell retained for hisown collection. Sage presented his copy of this medal to the American



THE ORIGINS 11Numismatic and Archaeological Society in 1864.12 Sage signalized hisown very high opinion of Bushnell by issuing the first of the medals of A. B. Sage's Numismatic Gallery in honor of Charles I. Bushnell.13This series of articles and responses in the Sunday Dispatch may nothave in themselves been of primary importance in increasing interest

in numismatics because they had a very limited circulation, but theyare indicative of an advanced state of numismatic interest. Contactsbetween the different collectors and dealers during this period seemto have been very close, and the circle of devotees expanded as thefriends of those already in the field joined in the newly found pursuit.14The time had now come when a society for the pursuit of numismaticendeavors and studies might be formed. A large enough body of men

of culture and means existed in several of the major cities of the country,and interest in the field was at a peak. The first such society appearsto have been the Numismatic Society of Philadelphia, which wasinstituted by seven gentlemen of that city on Dec. 27, 1857, but theformal organization of the group was not completed until Jan. 1, 1858.The American Numismatic Society would appear to have been con-ceived some months later, in March of 1858. It is true that A. B. Sage,the coin dealer, who was one of the most important of the founders of the Society, spoke ten years later of the first meeting as having occurredin 1857, but since his writings show quite conclusively that Sage didnot possess an infallible memory, we may presume that he simply erredin recalling the date.15 In the copies of the Constitution and By-Lawsprinted in 1864, 1865, 1878, and 1884, however, the claim is madethat the Society was actually founded in 1857, but the evidence wouldseem to indicate that even the first informal meetings for forming a

numismatic society in New York were not held until March of 1858.A diary kept by Edward Groh, one of the founders of the Society,contained evidence that informal meetings were held at the home of Augustus B. Sage at 121 Essex Street as early as March 15, 1858.16According to Groh's diary he went to the home of Augustus B. Sage onthe evening of March 15th to attend the first irregular meeting of aproposed new society. Invitations signed by Augustus B. Sage, a dealer

in coins, antiquities and other curiosities, Henry O. Hart, James D.Foskett, James Oliver, and Edward Groh himself, had been extended



12 THE ORIGINSto several people. The purpose of the meeting as expressed in the in-vitation was to take "the preliminary steps towards the organizationof an Antiquarian Society in this city."17 At that meeting in additionto the signers of the invitation there were present Henry Whitmore, agentleman of wealth from this city, Dr. Isaac Hand Gibbs, Ezra Hill,

"and a number of others." Groh presumed that Theophilus W. Law-rence, a book and print dealer, was among the anonymous others whowere present.The next evening, Tuesday, March 16th, Groh met once again withSage, Oliver, and Lawrence at the same place. Henry O. Hart, whowas to serve with them on a Committee on By-Laws that had apparent-ly been appointed on the first night of their meeting, was absent on this

occasion. It is evident from the fact that he never again took part inany of the activities of the Society that he had lost interest in theproject. The committee proceeded about its task in a very informalmanner because there were chance meetings of various members re-corded on several evenings during the month of March, and on someoccasions such as March 22nd and March 29th, quite a few of themembers appear to have been present. On March 29th, which was aMonday evening, Groh went to what he now referred to in his diary asa "Coin Collector's Meeting," and there he was introduced to somenew devotees including John Cooper Vail, an author and journalistwho had just joined the group. Vail seems to have been a most unusualperson, being described by one of his acquaintances as "a peculiar andeccentric personâ€”the author of extravagant tales for the sensationalpapers."18 It was at that meeting also that Dr. Asher T. Atkinson wasintroduced to the rest of the members of the Society. Dr. Thomas Dunn

English must also have been present at that meeting for Groh specificallystates that it was then that Dr. English penned the Constitution andBy-Laws.The exact circumstances surrounding the adoption of the con-stitution are interesting because, as has been noted, Dr. English wasnot a member of the committee charged with the preparation of thatdocument. At the meeting held on March 16th at the home of Augustus

B. Sage, Sage had written a version of the Constitution and By-Lawswhich was presented to the meeting of March 29th. It is indicative of



THE ORIGINS 13the forceful character of Dr. English that when the new Constitutionwas presented at the very first meeting, he stepped forward and, ap-parently on the spur of the moment, prepared a different version. Thisnew version was accepted by the group and was submitted for finalapproval to the first formal meeting of the Society on April 6th.

A thorough study of the origins of the American Numismatic Societyreveals that there were fourteen gentlemen who were in some measureinvolved in its foundation. Only twelve of these men were listed amongthe founders until 1879, when an investigation revealed the participationof the other two. The twelve who were recognized as founders fromthe very inception of the organization were those who were in attend-ance at the first regular meeting of the Society which was held on

April 6, 1858, at the home of Augustus B. Sage. Some of the twelvewere fairly prominent in civic affairs and continued to serve the newlyestablished society in the period following the Civil War. Others,however, are known primarily because of their association with theorganization of the American Numismatic Society. One can onlyspeculate that perhaps some of these men died during the course of the Civil War and so did not share in the full fruits of their labors. Onlyin the case of Dr. Thomas Dunn English, who lost interest in theSociety immediately after the first election of officers, and in the caseof John Cooper Vail, who was apparently taken sick quite early, canwe be certain of the reasons for the disappearance of the names of thevarious founders who did not participate actively in the later historyof the Society. In this latter category were to be found Alfred Bough ten,James D. Foskett, Ezra Hill, Jacob J. Melber, James Oliver, andHenry Whitmore.19

In addition to the men just mentioned, the first regular meeting of the Society was attended by Dr. Isaac Hand Gibbs, a physician, andAugustus B. Sage, as well as by Asher D. Atkinson, Dr. Thomas DunnEnglish, and Edward Groh, about whom a certain amount of informa-tion is available. Atkinson and English were cousins and had attendedthe Friends' Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, together. Atkinson,the son of a physician, was born in Philadelphia on September 30,

1821, and received his early schooling in that area, but when he wassomewhat older the family removed to New York where he studied



14 THE ORIGINSmedicine. Though he received his degree he never engaged in thepractice of medicine but devoted his time to business and becameparticularly well known as a successful operator in the development of oil wells after 1863. His very fine collection of cents passed throughthe hands of several collectors and was finally acquired by the United

States Mint in Philadelphia.20Thomas Dunn English was by far the best known of the founders of the Society. He was born on June 29, 1819, of Quaker stock in or near Philadelphia. In 1839, after completing his education at the MedicalSchool of the University of Pennsylvania, he received the M.D. degreewith a thesis on the subject of phrenology. During the next three yearshe read law and was admitted to the bar in 1842, though he did not

practice that profession immediately. His chosen field of future endeavor was apparently determined as early as 1839, when he began to writefor Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. As a result of his connections withthat journal he established a friendship with Edgar Allan Poe. In 1844,he took an active part in the campaign in support of Tyler. As presidentof a political club, he tells us in his autobiography, he did a good dealof stumping and probably provoked a good deal of ill will by beingunnecessarily offensive in his remarks.21 English also edited the Tyler daily, the Aurora, which soon failed, and as a reward he received thepolitical appointment of weigher of the port of New York. By this pointin his career, however, English had produced his most important work.In 1843, the editors of the New Minor, George P. Morris and NathanielP. Willis, asked the twenty-four year old English to write a poem for their publication. English promptly produced Ben Bolt, an engagingpoem addressed to a real person by that name and with allusions to

still other real people.22 The poem itself was an immediate success andthe suggestion was made to many composers that they fit these stanzasto music. A great many, including English himself who wrote such acomposition "entirely for the black keys," tried to do so. In 1846, thepoem was used as the lyric to a German air in the drama, "The Battleof Buena Vista," which was playing in a Pittsburgh theater. The playitself collapsed shortly, but the song which had been introduced into

it largely by accident lived on in greater fame.23 In 1895, Du Maurier used the piece quite conspicuously in his novel, Trilby.



THE ORIGINS 15By 1845, English was editor of the Aristidean, A Magazine of Reviews,Politics, and Light Literature to which both Poe and Whitman contributed;but which failed after only six issues. The relationship between Poeand English was no longer as happy as it had been, for in 1846 Poewrote The Literati of New York, a series of papers published in Godey's

Lady's Book. To say the least, Poe's criticisms of the intellectual andartistic figures of New York, including English, were impassioned andperhaps overly severe, but it must be remembered that at the time inquestion Poe was living in very straightened circumstances and watchinghis always delicate wife waste away before his eyes. Poe's barbedshafts struck home, and English retaliated with a card which wasreprinted in the Evening Mirror and which charged Poe with forgery. Of

course such a charge could not be upheld and was, in fact, libelous.As a result, Poe in wrath filed a suit against Hiram Fuller, editor of the Evening Mirror, for publishing the libel, and he won, though the suitdamaged his reputation.English changed his residence to Washington during the suit, but in1848, with others, he started the humorous weekly John Donkey inPhiladelphia. It was probably the best known publication of its timethough on occasion the wit was somewhat strained. The weekly wassharply critical of Greeley, Poe, and many others, but once again thesatire seems to have overlooked the laws of libel, for even though itonce attained a circulation of twelve thousand, it was ruined at theend of six months by the numerous court actions brought against it.With his career in journalism somewhat curtailed by these events,English retired to Virginia where he practiced medicine and law.After 1856, he returned to the North and settled in Bergen County,

New Jersey, where he was apparently residing at the time he becameone of the founders of the American Numismatic Society.24Perhaps the founder who had the greatest influence on the futurehistory of the Society and certainly the one who remained active for the longest period of time was Edward Groh. He was born of Germanparents in New York City on June 2, 1837, and received his educationin local schools.25 While still a very young man he engaged in the ship-

chandlery trade, but later he entered the tobacco business. He appearsto have been quite successful in this new enterprise which he continued



16 THE ORIGINSfor all his active life. About the year 1855 Groh began to devote muchof his leisure time to the pursuit of numismatics. This new interestsupplemented an earlier devotion to entomology which was responsiblefor his becoming an honorary member of the Louis Agassiz Association.It is evident that Groh was an intellectually curious gentleman whose

broad interests encompassed many fields, and in each he strove tohave more than a mere dilettante's knowledge. His contributions inthese fields are worthy of note even though they could hardly beproclaimed of prime importance.Groh's interest in numismatics was not restricted to any individualbranch of that subject for he was a collector of ancient coins as well asthe Rebellion tokens of the Civil War period. He was always on the

watch for rare American tokens and store cards and was a recognizedauthority in that aspect of numismatics. In 1857 the store cards of acertain T. D. Seaman were popular and were sought by the growingband of collectors, but no one had been able to establish the location of Seaman's store. On July 4, however, as Groh was fond of relating, hediscovered the sign of T. D. Seaman over a grocery store on a NewYork corner and set the matter at rest.He was also connected in a slight way with the production of electro-types which were just beginning to come into fashion about the middleof the century. At that time the perennial argument that still persistsregarding their production was already current. There were thosewho regarded the electrotype as an illegitimate copy of a work of artwhich might eventually cause a decline in the value of the original andtherefore deserved wholesale condemnation.26 In 1860 Groh, who wasalready known as an outstanding collector, brought some castings of

an 1836 dollar of the flying eagle type to a jeweller on the Bowerynamed Posner for the purpose of having them plated. The recentlyplated pieces were discovered in the possession of the jeweller who wasby temperament a very nervous man. The authorities took a greatinterest in the pieces and arrested Posner for the purpose of ascertainingwhether a charge of counterfeiting should be levelled. The process of electrotyping was apparently so new at the time that no definite

policy had as yet been established, though it is certain that others hadpracticed the art somewhat earlier. It was only because the district



THE ORIGINS 17attorney was apprised of the fact that these new copies were to sell for three times the face value of the coin itself that the matter did not takea serious turn.Such were the men who met at the home of Augustus B. Sage for the first regular meeting of the American Numismatic Society. At this

first meeting Dr. Isaac Hand Gibbs was elected President pro tem andSage served as Secretary pro tem. A report was read by the Committeeon Constitution and By-Laws, but the substance of that report was theproduct of the mind of Dr. English and not the version first preparedby Sage. The meeting then resolved itself into a committee of thewhole to deal with the Constitution and By-Laws, and after discussionof various propositions, Dr. English drew up the final version which

was unanimously adopted.27 Election of the regular officers who shouldserve in accordance with the provisions of the new constitution waspostponed until the following meeting. The American NumismaticSociety was now officially launched upon its career.



THE EARLY YEARS1858-1864he new Constitution of the Society set forth its objectives in theclear wording which one might expect of a journalist and author suchas Thomas Dunn English. They were "the collection and preservationof the coins and medals struck in this country, with an investigation

into their history, and such connate matters as the society may deemworthy of its attention."1 In time, of course, the aims of the Societywere expanded to include still wider spheres of numismatics, but for the moment the emphasis on American coins and medals was pointed.It reflected, of course, the spirit of the times, when the young giantwhich was the United States was proud of its accomplishments. TheAmerican Numismatic Society, however, made only a modest appear-

ance on the intellectual horizon when compared with the other pro-minent scientific and learned societies which had come into existenceprior to 1858. Among its founders were some men of note, but as agroup the early members were not particularly distinguished. As aresult, the activities of the Society during the two years preceding theoutbreak of hostilities received but passing notice in the contemporarypress; but it cannot be gainsaid that despite difficulties of a greater magnitude than might be immediately evident, the Society grew andstrengthened itself in the time that remained before the turmoil of theCivil War caused a hiatus.18



1858-1864 19The second meeting of the Society was called to order by Dr. Gibbs,the President pro tem., on Tuesday, April I3th. Under the provisionsof the Constitution it was required that a President, two Vice-Presi-dents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer,and an Actuary be elected on the second Tuesday of April to serve

annual terms.2 Mr. Sage therefore nominated Dr. Gibbs to serveregularly in the office which he now held on a temporary basis, andAtkinson nominated his cousin, Dr. English, for the same office. Inthe resulting balloting Dr. Gibbs was elected by a simple majority of five votes to four. English must have been deeply disappointed at thisfailure to achieve the presidency in the light of the apparent ease withwhich he had been able to supersede the earlier work of the Committee

on Constitution and By-Laws. In any event this was to be the lastmeeting attended by Dr. English, and his contemporaries attributedhis departure to his defeat. Dr. English, at a much later date gave ashis reason for leaving the Society "the intent of one or two of themembers... .to turn the affair into a machine for trading coins." Thischarge cannot be substantiated from the record itself; and as far as canbe determined from the preserved data, only one of the founders wasin any way connected with numismatics as a livelihood.3With Dr. Gibbs as President the members of the Society now pro-ceeded to elect by acclamation John Cooper Vail and Henry Whitmoreas Vice-Presidents, James Oliver as Recording Secretary, AugustusB. Sage as Corresponding Secretary, Theophilus W. Lawrence asTreasurer, and James D. Foskett as Actuary. In addition four com-mittees were established to deal with the various departments of theactivities of the Society. Each of these committees, the Committee on

Coins, that on Medals, and that on Transactions, as well as the oneon Library was composed of three members. Thus each of the originalfourteen founders either enjoyed an official position as an officer of the Society or served on one of the committees.The Constitution which had been adopted so quickly at the firstregular meeting was duly published with the list of officers and mem-bers of the standing committees, but no sooner was this done than pro-

posals were made to revise that document and the By-Laws. At thefifth meeting on July 13, 1858, some modifications were suggested in



20 THE EARLY YEARSthe wording of the first article of the Constitution which would haveremoved the emphasis that had been placed on American coinage andmedallic productions. In accordance with the fifth article of the Con-stitution the proposal was laid over to the next meeting, but a newcommittee to revise the Constitution and By-Laws was appointed.

This committee consisted of Frank Henry Norton, who was assistantlibrarian at the Astor Library in New York, Robert J. Dodge who wasserving as President pro tem, of the Society at the time, and AugustusB. Sage.It should be pointed out that Dr. Gibbs filled the office of Presidentof the Society until November 1858, but that during the six months of his tenure there were many meetings which he did not attend. The

pressure of his own affairs was apparently too great to permit him totake an active part as President; and at the first semi-annual meetingof the Society held on November 3, 1858, in the rooms of the OmactlClub at 8n Brodway, he was permitted to retire from that office.4From July 27th Dodge had served in the capacity of President protem., and he was thus the logical successor.Of Robert J. Dodge almost no information is available save that hewas in the employ of the City as a surveyor or an engineer. The onlyfacts that are certain aside from this concern his connection with theSociety, and thus the second President must always remain a some-what enigmatic figure. The minutes of May n, 1858, record the factthat he was elected as a member on that date. His career in theSociety, however, was rather unique, for the very first position of trustwhich he occupied was that of President pro tem. Obviously he was aman of some local distinction otherwise he could not have risen so

quickly in the ranks of the Society.5 Frank H. Norton, on the other hand, was rather well known in New York City. He was a distinguishedappearing man with long mustaches which extended far beyond thelimits of his face and had a fine high forehead. Two prominent Americanfamilies were united in his lineage when he was born in 1836 as thefourth son of Major B. Hammatt and Augusta (Ware) Norton. Nortonreceived his education at the Dwight School in Boston and at Pictou

Academy in Nova Scotia where his father was serving as U. S. Consul.In 1850 he came to New York and entered the book store of his brother



Joseph J. Mickley

Edward Cogan

To Gus For Valor

Charles I. Bushncll-Sage Token



Augustus B. SageEdward Groh as a young man

James Oliver Thomas Dunn English



1858-1864 21Charles B. Norton. By 1855 he had joined the staff of the Astor Library,and he was serving in that capacity when on May 11, 1858, he becamea member of the Society.6 In the years after the Civil War, Nortondevoted himself to journalism and was a contributor to The NationalCyclopedia of American Biography. In addition he was a playwright and

author of several full length biographies. His primary avocation seemsto have been the study of mathematics and astronomy, but he did con-tribute an article to the first issue of the American Journal of Numismatics.He was later to serve as President of the Society and to resign over adispute regarding that journal, but this tale must await its proper place.These three men, Norton, Dodge and Sage, two of whom weredestined to serve as presidents and one who was among the founders of

the Society, were appointed to rewrite the Constitution. At the meetingof September 14, 1858, they presented their report, and the new Con-stitution was adopted.7 It was not very different from the original onewhich had been agreed upon at the first regular meeting of the Society,though somewhat longer. The offices of Second Vice-President andActuary were abolished and those of Curator and Librarian established.In addition, it provided for a variety of non-resident memberships to in-clude those enthusiasts who resided beyond the confines of Manhattan,and it also established a new class of life members who would, at onestroke, pay twenty dollars to the treasury. It fixed the dues at four dollarsfor resident members and a half-dollar for non-resident members, inaddition to a one dollar initiation fee for all, in place of the previoussum of three dollars semi-annually. Since the funds of the Society werelikely to increase because of the higher dues and the new class of membership, it was stipulated that "All donations in money, and all

money received from Life Members, must be invested by the Treasurer,under the direction of the Council, which was composed of all theofficers. The money thus invested will constitute a permanent fund,of which only the interest can be expended." These changes seem tohave satisfied the legislative penchant of the members for some timethough that trait has never been completely absent from the character of the numismatist. Before departing from this subject of legislation,

however, it is fitting to note that there was a problem because of thelack of attendance at meetings, and to solve this difficulty it was decided



22 THE EARLY YEARSon October 20, 1859, that a fine of ten cents would be imposed onmembers not attending the regular meetings of the Society. There isno notice of this resolution ever having been carried out or repealed,so it may have been an effective deterent.The Society, as it existed in 1858, was a rather informal organization

without a legal personality. Sage was the first to note the difficultiesinherent in this situation, and on January 12th of the following year he made the first suggestion that an effort should be made to have theSociety incorporated by the Legislature. Frank H. Norton, the Corres-ponding Secretary, elected at the first semi-annual meeting in 1858,was directed to inquire into the matter. In the following months thelaw regarding such an act of incorporation was studied and the report

of the Committee on Incorporation was prepared. The plan wasaccepted, and steps were taken to carry out the proposal. All was inreadiness to complete this move when it was discovered on April 7ththat the Curator was a minor and therefore ineligible to be either anofficer or a trustee of an incorporated society. Augustus B. Sage, whohad been elected Curator at the first semi-annual meeting, haddiscerned by January that his other engagements would not allow himsufficient time to perform the duties of that office. In consequence heresigned and was replaced by William Leggett Bramhall, a muchyounger man who had the necessary leisure for the office.8 Bramhall,upon recognizing the situation, submitted his resignation and EdwardGroh replaced him. It should be noted that Bramhall was not tooyoung to serve with distinction as a captain of volunteers in the CivilWar, which erupted just two years later, and though he was severelywounded he was breveted major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, for

gallant and meritorious service.9Bramhall's resignation cleared the way for further action. OnTuesday, April 12, 1859, a special meeting of the Council of Manage-ment of the Society, a body set up under the new Constitution andcomposed of the regularly elected officers, drew up the necessarydocuments to accomplish the incorporation. A single page of the draftof the petition seeking incorporation has been preserved, and even

at that early date the plea on behalf of numismatics as a source for knowledge of the past was made quite strongly. Yet this plea for the



185&-1864 23value of numismatic studies and the increasing attention being givento the subject was apparently insufficient to convince the Legislature.If this petition was ever submitted, it was certainly never acted upon.On October 20, 1859, the last meeting of the Society prior to 1864 washeld, and no action was taken on the act of incorporation. During the

intervening period the Civil War raged, and the attentions andenergies of the populace were directed to the task of winning the war.Other pursuits, among them numismatics, fell into the background.The most basic problem facing the Society during its early develop-ment, was not one of legal status, however, but simply a matter of arranging for a suitable room in which to meet. As early as May 3,1858, while meetings were still being held at the home of Augustus

B. Sage, 121 Essex Street in lower Manhattan, Sage as CorrespondingSecretary of the group was authorized to negotiate with Peter Cooper,the founder of Cooper Union, for the use of a room in the Union at areasonable rent.10The corner-stone of the Cooper Institute had been laid on September 17, 1853, at Seventh Street and Fourth Avenue. It was incorporatedas "The Peter Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art"in 1857, and the "Hall of the Union" was opened on May 10th of thefollowing year. The idea of such an establishment was very much inaccord with the prevailing cultural trends as shown earlier, and itwould have provided an ideal home for the Society. Peter Cooper must have recognized this because in a letter in answer to that of Sage,he expressed a desire to meet with him to discuss the matter.11 Onceagain, however, a matter of great importance was permitted to lapse,and as a result on September 14, 1858, it was found necessary to

appoint a committee composed of Foskett, Sage, and Norton to find asuitable room. This committee applied itself diligently to the task, andby January arrangements had been concluded to have the meetingsheld in Room No. 44, Bible House, Astor Place, at a monthly rent of $12.50. The arrangement was made for a period of five months only,and at the end of that time the agreement was allowed to expirewithout a renewal. About a week before the end of the five month

period, Norton had proposed that other arrangements be made. Hismotion was carried and resulted in a new committee of four members,



24 THE EARLY YEARSNorton, Edward S. Cummings, Foskett, and Oliver.12 The meetingsof May 12th and 19th were necessarily held at Sage's home which wasnow at 24 Division Street.The new committee resolved to re-establish contact with the Dir-ectors of Cooper Institute, and they were informed that if a petition

addressed to the Board of Directors of the Cooper Institute were pre-pared, it was probable that a room would be given for the use of theSociety in the course of two months. This information resulted in anew committee to find a temporary room for the immediate future.This committee consisted of Jaudon, Oliver, and Mortimer S. Brown.13The meeting of June 9th was held at 839 Broadway, and those of June14th and October 13th at the room of the American Geographical

Society in Clinton Hall, but these were only temporary expedients.14A petition was drawn up and addressed to the Board of Directors of Cooper Institute on May 24th,15 and on June I4th the entire matter was put into the hands of Frank H. Norton. The Directors of Cooper Institute responded with an offer for the temporary use of a room at a"moderate charge per night," but they added that they were in theprocess of forming a "Society of Arts" connected with the Union. Itwas expected that this organization would begin to function in theFall of 1859, and at that time the American Numismatic Society couldbecome a section of the new "Society of Arts" and continue to use theroom without cost.18 At the informal meeting of October 13th thisinformation was communicated to the Society, and at the meetingof October 2oth, Norton and Oliver were appointed as a committeeto draft resolutions to Cooper Union regarding the room given theSociety.

The answer forwarded to the Directors of Cooper Institute must haverejected the possibility of merging the fledgling American NumismaticSociety into the newer but more ambitious "Society of Arts." Perhapsthe membership of the Society was not prepared to lose its identity andto become merely a section of a larger group. This was, in the finalanalysis, a wise course of action, but for the moment it meant that theSociety was without a home just as it lacked incorporation. This was

to be an important factor in the hiatus of activities for four years.Still another instance must be recorded in which an attempt was



185&-1864 25made to accomplish something, but in which no conclusion wasreached. As in all organizations, the symbols of the group are almost asimportant as its real existence. Barely one month after Sage had pro-posed the incorporation of the Society he again rose at a meeting onFebruary 19, 1859, to suggest that a committee of three be appointed

to draft a certificate of membership, "and an amendment was addedto entrust the same committee with the duty of drawing a plan for aseal." This committee was composed of William S. Frederick Mayers,17Oliver, and Sage. These three probably did not take their work veryseriously because on five separate occasions, from February throughApril in 1859, they merely reported "progress" to the Society. Abso-lutely nothing seems to have been accomplished that would present

the group with a seal and certificate of membership. It was a repetitionof the unfortunate attempts to secure incorporation and to find suita-ble quarters.There were, however, signs of distinct accomplishment in other branches of the activities of the Society. The Society was not wealthynor well endowed, but there were sufficient funds for the routinematters at hand. The first treasurer's report, made on May n, 1858,listed the expenditures of the Society since its foundation at $7.50 for printing, $2.50 for books for the use of the officers, and fifty cents usedfor postage. This left a balance in the treasure of $8.50. By the time of the second treasurer's report, made on October 13, 1859, just one week before the last meeting prior to the Civil War, the cash on hand after payment of all expenses was $23.83, and still another $56.00 was duein payments to the Society. Thus the total assets of the Society justbefore the four year hiatus from 1859 to 1864 were $79.83.

But the small financial capacity of the Society cannot be taken asthe only measure of its influence. From a very early date it expanded itsmembership lists by the inclusion of corresponding and honorarymembers. The first of the corresponding members was Charles B.Endicott of Boston who was elected at the meeting of August 24,1858.Endicott continued his connection as a corresponding member until1864. The first of the honorary members, unanimously elected on

June 17, 1858, was Benson J. Lossing, of Dover Plains, New York,later the author of a long work on the Civil War.18 In his letter of



26 THE EARLY YEARSacceptance Lossing indicated his clear understanding of the goals of the Society when he wrote, "While my limited knowledge of the inter-esting and highly important subject which forms the object of your association, would not entitle me to active membership therein, Iassure you that I feel a deep concern in such investigations, so kindred

to those in which I have been engaged. In that interest you haveperceived a reason for enrolling me among you, as a fellow delver.I most cheerfully accept the preferred honor, and beg you to receivemy cordial thanks, and my earnest best wishes for the success of your enterprise. It is the hand-maid and co-worker with History, and is oneof its most reliable aids in discovering truths and errors in the chroniclesof the race."19

Requests for information concerning the Society on behalf of privateindividuals came from others in Boston, Cincinnati, and in Maine andKentucky. The name of the Society and some short notices of itsactivities appeared in the local papers.20 The same items were copiedin the more distant journals and two letters in the archives of theSociety from the early months of 1859 refer to an article describing itin the Portland Maine Transcript.21 The American Numismatic Societybecame the model for similar groups in other cities. Some gentlemenin Buffalo considered starting such an association, and on July 18,1859, William P. Thompson of that city wrote to Norton requesting acopy of the Constitution and By-laws.22 Most of these societies werefounded much later, but the impetus given to such groups by theformation of the Society in New York was all important. The BostonNumismatic Society was organized in 1860 and incorporated a decadelater; the society in New Haven was formed in 1862 and that in

Montreal at the end of the same year. Two years later the RhodeIsland Numismatic Association was established, and in 1866 the NewEngland Numismatic and Archaeological Society. The Essex CountyAntiquarian and Numismatic Society at Newark, New Jersey, appearedin 1869,23 the Vermont Numismatic Society at Burlington in 1876.The Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society at Pittsburgh wasfounded in 1878 but dissolved in 1889, the Numismatic and Archae-

ological Society of Baltimore came into being in 1880, and the ChicagoNumismatic and Archaeological Society in the same year. In addition



1858-1864 27there were many informal groups which discussed the possibility of forming societies such as one in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1875;but, like the Buffalo group, it appears to have failed.24The Society achieved distinction fairly early as a body of men de-voted to the science of numismatics. As early as the twelfth regular

meeting, November 19, 1858, Mayers delivered a paper on "TheLiterature of American Numismatics" to the assembled group. Thereis no record of exactly what was contained in this first formal address tothe American Numismatic Society, but it was the fore-runner of anincreasing number of such papers that have continued as a series tothe present day. Offers of aid and questions regarding coins and other objects began to reach the Society. Less than a year after the formation

of the group Josiah Brewer of Stockbridge, Mass., wrote to the Societyoffering the services of his son Fisk who was in Athens and might beof aid in coin purchases and the like. Fisk P. Brewer, a nephew of Cyrus W. Field, who laid the Atlantic cable, held the position of tutor at Yale where he had arranged the numismatic collection, andhe had gone to Greece to further his studies.25 Presumably the Societydid not avail itself of this tempting offer because of lack of funds for coin purchases, but the very fact that the offer was made is significantof rapid rise in its reputation.The existence of a scholarly group devoted to the study of numisma-tics also presented the increasing number of devotees and collectorswith a source from which they could seek answers to their questions.At the meeting of December 2, 1858, the Corresponding Secretaryread a letter from a gentleman in Cincinnati asking for informationregarding a vase in which were inserted a number of silver coins. The

description was inadequate, and therefore it was requested that theobject be shipped to New York so that it might be examined. OnJanuary 12, 1859, a committee consisting of Frank H. Norton aschairman, and William S. Frederick Mayers and Augustus Sage asmembers, was appointed to investigate and to report on this problem.Close scrutiny revealed that the cup was not over 150 years old andwas probably of German manufacture. Perhaps it was intended as a

wine heater or muller to be set near a fire. The report of the Com-mittee was printed in full in the local press.26



28 THE EARLY YEARSNot only was the Society a focal point for questions of individuals,but since the group in Philadelphia was the only competing associationin the United States, it was incumbent upon the two groups to maintaincontact with one another and to establish relations with the older societies which had flourished in Europe for a much longer period of

time. One of the members of the Philadelphia Society devised a newaccurate standard of measurements for coins and medals. This newstandard was adopted by the Philadelphia group, and Dr. Collet, thecreator of this standard, communicated the details of its use to theAmerican Numismatic Society at the meeting of October 20, 1859.A committee was appointed to study the merits of the new scale, butthere was no further action taken because of the hiatus in the

activities of the Society following that meeting. It was adopted at thefirst meeting in 1864.Somewhat earlier the Society had established cordial relations withthe London Numismatic Society.27 Like most other European societieswhich have their counterparts in the United States there was aconsiderable gap between the foundation dates of the two organizations.Thus the London body was the senior when on April 21, 1859, theAmerican Numismatic Society decided to present the proofs of thecurrent years' issues of American coins and requested every member to contribute coins for the gift. On May 19th a committee of three,Jaudon, Sage, and Oliver, was appointed to gather the coins frommembers, but there must have been a delay in completing this task for on June I4th the Secretary was directed to notify the absentmembers to contribute coins for this purpose. On October 26, 1859,Frank H. Norton made the donation which was accompanied by a

letter, addressed to the President and Members of the NumismaticSociety of London, expressing the desire of the New York society toopen a correspondence which might prove "equally advantageous andagreeable to both parties."28 It cannot be doubted that the body inLondon took cognizance of this generous gift, but it must be borne inmind that the American Numismatic Society held its last meetingbefore the Civil War on October 20, 1859, and as a result there is no

record of anything further regarding this.The Society, while engaged in sending gifts abroad, was also



New York City Mission and Tract Society-Bible House

Frank H. NortonWilliam I.. Bramhall



Fourth Avenue between Seventh and Eighth Streets in 1861.Bible House (left] and Cooper Union (center)

Joseph N. T. Lcvick Isaac J. Greenwood





30 THE EARLY YEARSholdings for this early period, but one was evidently prepared at thetime. On December 2, 1858, a committee composed of Mayers,Norton, Foskett, Bramhall, and Hill was appointed for the specifictask of drawing up a catalogue of numismatic books. In any event thelibrary and numismatic collections were subject to strict regulations

governing their use after February 3, 1859, when it was decided"That no book, coin or other property of the Numismatic Societyshall be taken from the rooms of the Society, nor leave the custodyof its proper officer without a majority vote of the members presentat a regular meeting;" and "That every book, coin or other articleborrowed, shall be registered as such with the name of its borrower by the officer in charge of the same, or in his absence, by the presiding

officer of the evening." Nothing borrowed could be retained "for alonger period than two weeks."The coin cabinet of the Society also was founded during this firsttwo year period. The first donation of which there is a record in theminutes occurred on November 19, 1858, when David M. Balfour of Boston gave "several valuable coins" to the Society.31 Nothing moreis known of Balfour other than the fact that on two occasions inNovember 1858 he sent coins to the Society and thus may be consideredthe founder of the great collection which now exists.The Curator, an office established by the Constitution of September 14th to replace that of Actuary, had charge of the coins and was re-quested to catalogue them in the order of their reception. The list of donors constantly grew; early in 1859 a record was made of the gift of a pattern guinea of George III by Charles Endicott who was a corre-sponding member of the Society.32 By March 17, 1859, as a result of

efforts on the part of individual members of the Society, the collectionwas large enough to warrant a report from the Curator decribing thecoins and medals. Various institutions were now sending copies of their medals to the Society for the collection. St. John's College,Fordham, sent a copy of the silver medal given to the best student ineach of the three lower classes of undergraduates.33 The SyracuseMechanics Association received a vote of thanks on April 28th for

their donation of a bronze medal, and the Ohio State Board of Agriculture also sent a copy of their bronze medal a month later. The



1858-1864 31Franklin Institute of Syracuse dispatched a copy of their bronze medalon April 25, 1859; and on August 6, 1859, the Worcester CountyMechanic's Association sent a copy of the medal which they awardedat fairs and a printed impression of their seal. Somewhat later, onOctober 1st, an electrotype copy of the seal itself was sent.

The correspondence of this period in the archives of the Society andthe record kept in the minutes indicate that a fairly large number of donations of coins as well as medals were received during the first twoyears of its existence. Arrangements were even made with the officialsof the United States Mint to forward proof copies of the coinage. Thefuture of the Society must have seemed assured at that last meeting onOctober 20, 1859, and there is no intimation in the minutes of any

expectation that it would be the last meeting for four long andtumultous years. The problem of finding a suitable room for the Societyto meet in was, of course, the primary obstacle in 1859 because theone offered by the Cooper Institute was rejected.34 This in itself was acondition which would have been remedied, but there is a deeper andmore significant reason for the loss of interests in the activities of theSociety at that time. The answer, of course, lies in the agitation whichculminated in the Civil War. On October 16, 1859, John Brown, theabolitionist, conducted his memorable raid on the Federal arsenal atHarper's Ferry, Virginia. Though he was taken by Capt. RobertE. Lee and hanged later that year, his raid stirred great emotions andcreated a temporary sensation. Secession was in the air throughoutthe South and as early as 1856, when Buchanan was elected Presidentthe southern governors had met in a secret conclave to plan a courseof action should General Fremont win. Governor Wise of Virginia had

drawn up plans to raise an army of 20,000 men for the purpose of seizing Washington to prevent the inauguration of Fremont. Happilythat crisis had passed without the problem being brought into thearena of open warfare, but in the interval presented by Buchanan'sweak rule had come the Dred Scott decision and now John Brown'sraid. It was realized that the election of 1860 would be crucial, for should the Republicans succeed, secession was a virtual certainty.

Tension mounted throughout the country as the entire people nearedthe abyss of fractricidal conflict. The election of Lincoln in 1860



32 THE EARLY YEARSfollowed by the secession of South Carolina at the end of the sameyear, led to the open hostilities of the Civil War.In such momentous times it is not surprising that a newly formedand barely established Society devoted to the peaceful pursuits of studyshould suffer. Without a room in which to meet and with many young

men of military age on its roster of members, one need not look further for the causes of this hiatus in the activities of the American Numis-matic Society.



GREBIRTH AND GROWTH1864-1873<an numismatics ever become a popular pursuit among Ameri-cans?" This question was seriously posed in a discerning article inJune of 1867.1 The answer was in the affirmative, but the fact that such

a question could arise at that date is indicative of the problem whichfaced the Society in the last months of the Civil War. From October of 1859 through January of 1864, it was impossible to hold meetings.Several attempts were made, but a quorum could not be assembled.On February 5, 1864, some three months after Lincoln's Gettysburgaddress and seven months after the battle which marked the turningpoint in the conflict, efforts to revive the Society were crowned with

success. Dr. George H. Perine, a physician in New York City offeredhis home at 6 East 22nd Street as a meeting place, and members of thepre-war group, Brown, Greenwood, Norton, Groh, and Oliver attended.2 Dr. Perine, of course, was elected to membership in theSociety at this meeting, and a vote of thanks was tendered to him"for his kindness in inviting the Society to meet at his home." At thesame time three other men of this city were also enrolled in the Society,and among them was F. Augustus Wood, who changed his name toIsaac F. Wood in 1868. In the course of the history of the AmericanNumismatic Society, it will be necessary to trace the career of Woodin numismatics because of the numerous capacities in which he serveds 33



34 REBIRTH AND GROWTHthe group. Certainly he was a man possessed of a droll sense of humor which is amply expressed in the letters written by him and preservedin the archives of the Society. Wood was born of Quaker stock in 1841,in the old Seventh Ward of New York City, then appropriately knownas the Quaker Ward. His family was a prominent one and had been

interested in many of the charities of the city. In 1862, he graduatedfrom Haverford College, and became a member of the firm of WilliamWood and Co., one of the leading publishers in the city. In time,however, he severed his connection with that corporation and devotedhimself solely to the pursuit of numismatics. In later life he moved toRahway, New Jersey, but he managed to maintain his connectionswith the Society until his death in 1895.3

The revived American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, asit now styled itself was clearly envisioned as a continuation of theAmerican Numismatic Society which had been founded before theCivil War. The minutes were continued in the same book, referenceswere made to the Constitution and to the previous meetings, andthere was continuity of membership. Even some of the problems whichhad faced the founders had carried over through the war years andwere now combined with others that had newly arisen. The first andmost pressing of these problems concerned a place to meet. Lack of an adequate meeting place had been one of the important factors inthe hiatus of activity during the war. The new group resolved to facethis question firmly. A committee consisting of Norton and Greenwoodwas promptly formed for the purpose of obtaining a suitable room. OnFebruary 18th the Society met once again, but this time the meetingplace was the Society Library on University Place, and on that

occasion Norton and Greenwood reported that the very room withinwhich they were then meeting could be had at two dollars per evening.The committee was instructed to engage the room without stipulatingthe length of time of occupancy, but an error had been made inreporting the rent. As a result the next meeting, held two weeks later,convened in the office of President Dodge. Since the rent was nowquoted at three dollars per evening, it was decided to engage the room

for a period of six months. These transactions could not be completedin time for the next meeting on March 11 th, but F. Augustus Wood



1864-1873 35made his home available for that meeting. Something went wrong inthe final arrangements, however, and two weeks later the committeereported having paid five dollars for the room and stated that they hadengaged it for a six month period. Greenwood, who was a member of the committee, had contributed the additional two dollars in the hope

of seeing at least that problem put to rest.It was a vain hope, for there were occasions when they met else-where, at the homes of the President and Dr. Perine. In the latter partof 1867 it was found possible to secure a meeting place in the Hall of the Board of Education at the corner of Grand and Elm Streets. OnMay 27, 1869, they met at the College of the City of New York, at thecorner of 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue, where a division of theCity College still stands. It was probably as a result of the interest of

Professor Charles E. Anthon of the Classics Department, of whommuch more will be said, that the Society was able to secure permissionto meet at the college. A three year lapse in the minutes occurs after 1870 "caused mainly by the then Recording Secretary Mr. AbrahamRedlich neglecting to preserve in any form his memoranda of trans-actions." When the record resumes, it is noted that they were stillmeeting at the college.4No sooner had the Society been restored to an active state, however,

than the legislative penchant of the numismatists, which had beendormant during the war, came to the fore again. At the meeting of March 24, 1864, it was decided that a committee should be establishedto revise the Constitution. The election of officers the previous week had shown that the newer members were taking as active a part in theactivities of the Society as those who had joined before the war and itwas therefore not illogical to permit them some say in the form of organization.5 This committee quickly advised an "entire remodelling"

of the Constitution. By the end of June of the same year the committeehad completed its task and presented the results which were votedupon and accepted in toto. A new committee consisting of the samemembership as the last, was organized for the purpose of printing thenew Constitution and By-Laws.6 A pre-war problem was revivedwhen this new committee recommended that an imprint of the sealof the Society be placed upon the title page of the Constitution.3*



36 REBIRTH AND GROWTHPrinting was begun even before the design of the seal was completed,but of course the title page was delayed. A committee of three hadbeen appointed as early as May 12, 1864, to design a seal and certifi-cate of membership, but they had apparently accomplished verylittle.7 Eventually the title page of the Constitution was printed without

an imprint of the seal, and it is in that form that it has survived.8Designing and executing a seal for the Society remained a problem,and on April 13, 1865, the report of the committee was ordered to bethe special business of the next meeting. Work on the seal was inter-rupted for a month by the assassination of President Lincoln onApril 14, 1865. The committee then reported that they had held ameeting and agreed upon a plan which would be presented at the nextmeeting. By June 8th the certificate of membership, also the responsi-

bility of that committee, was being printed, and two weeks later thecertificates were presented along with an impression of the first sealof the Society.The first seal was simplicity itself since it contained nothing butlettering, nor was the motto of the Society in evidence as yet. Aninscription with the words AMERICAN NUMISMATIC AND ARCHAE-OLOGICAL SOCIETY ran semi-circularly along the sides and top, sepa-rated by hyphens from the words NEW YORK at the bottom. Within

this semi-circular Society name there was a six-line inscriptionFOUNDED / 1857 / REORGANIZED / 1864 / INCORPORATED / 1865. Thusthe history of the organization was given in short compass on theseal. Unfortunately, this seal is no longer in existence, but a singleimpression of it occurs on the title page of the printed Articles of Incorporation of 1865.9This seal lacked distinction and was not very pleasing aesthetically.Thus the problem of a truly suitable seal and certificate of membership

arose again in 1867. At a special meeting on July 16th it was decidedto re-open the entire question, and a committee was appointed toprovide a suitable certificate of membership.10 The committee for anew seal was composed of John F. McCoy, Robert Hewitt, Jr., andProfessor Charles E. Anthon.11The interests of the third member of the committee, Professor Anthon, lead one to believe that he was the moving spirit of the com-



1864-1873 37mittee. He was a well known educator and the son of a prominentlawyer, John Anthon, as well as the nephew of Charles Anthon, aneminent classical scholar at Columbia University. Charles E. Anthonwas born in 1823 and after graduation from Columbia at sixteen, hespent some years in Europe engaged in travel and study.12 Upon his

return he was elected to the chair of history in St. John's College,Annapolis, Maryland, but in 1852 he came to New York as professor of history and belles-lettres at the New York Free Academy, whichlater became the College of the City of New York. He remained at theCity College until March of 1883 when, as a result of ill health, he re-signed and two months later went to Europe where he died in thefollowing June.13 His abilities as a scholar and teacher were recognized

by the honorary degree of Master of Arts given to him by Columbiain 1853, and by the Doctorate of Laws conferred by the Universityof the City of New York in 1866. Professor Anthon was first attractedto the study of numismatics and began his collection in 1865, and hepursued it avidly until his death.14 He was elected a resident member of the reorganized Society in December of the following year and hisabilities were quickly recognized. His career during the period1866-1883 paralleled the history of the Society, and there is thereforeno need to trace it in detail at this point.15Professor Anthon managed to connect many of his activities withnumismatics or medallic art, and almost all his writings deal with thosesubjects. He designed the seal of the College of the City of New York with the type of a female head, trifrons, with long flowing hair, andthe motto Respice, Adspice, Prospice. In 1868 the faculty of the Collegeadopted a resolution signed by their President, Horace Webster, their

Secretary, Gerardus B. Docharty, and the professors individually,requesting Senator Edwin D. Morgan of New York to act to secure auniformity of coinage for the United States, France, and GreatBritain.16 It seems almost certain that the hand of Professor Anthonis to be seen in that resolution, and also in the fact that a commemor-ative medal for the College was issued in 1867.17Professor Anthon was decidedly a man of action, and by October

24th a design for the new seal was exhibited by the committee of whichhe was a member.18 The classical design of the new seal of the Society



38 REBIRTH AND GROWTHmakes it probable that Anthon was its creator. The seal shows threeoak leaves, with the center leaf vertical, joined to a single stem. At thepoints where the leaves join the stem, four acorns are displayed. Ascroll running in a semicircle above the leaves contains the inscription"Parva ne pereant" (let not the little things perish), and the name of the

Society in Latin "Sod. Amer. Numis. et Archaeol." runs semi-circularlyaround below the leaves. The entire seal is bordered with a chain of fleur de lis.19 The actual seal itself was cut by George H. Lovett andimpressions of it were displayed at the meeting of November 14, 1867,and accepted by the Society. Lovett received a vote of thanks onFebruary 13, 1868.20The new seal, of course, was widely used, but it has not continued

to be the corporate seal of the Society. The type remains the same butthe form of representation has been modified, and a certain grace anddelicacy mark its present form. Unfortunately there has been no explan-ation of the iconographical significance of the design, but at leastthe motto of the Society has been the subject of some comment.21The men who met at Dr. Perine's home in 1864 were not organizinga group de now. The treasury of the Society was not empty, for on June30, 1864, it was found that the pre-war accounts had been properlykept and that there was a balance of thirty-eight dollars and eighty-three cents. In addition, of course, there were the lists of past members,and at the same meeting the Recording Secretary was directed towrite to the members who had not paid dues, to learn whether theywere desirous of continuing their connection with the Society.By March of 1865, the reorganized Society had been functioningfor just over one year, and the new Constitution and By-Laws required

that a so-called annual meeting be held on the fourth Thursday of themonth.22 As a result, at the first meeting of that month a committee of five members "was appointed to consider the matter of an annualgathering of the members and friends of the Society, and also of anexhibition of the collections belonging to the Society, and other mattersin connexion therewith." This committee reported favorably on theproject at the annual meeting of March 23rd, but it was thought that

a special meeting would be necessary to plan the affair. A week later at the special meeting, a Special Committee of Arrangement was



1864-1873 39appointed, but apparently there was some difficulty in carrying theproject to completion because on April 13th it was decided to postponethe exhibition and annual celebration indefinitely. In this fashion thefirst year of the revived Society passed without any particular note.The custom of the annual meeting which was first inserted in the Con-

stitution and By-Laws of 1865, however, has continued to the present,day.One very important matter still remained unresolved. The foundersof the Society had begun action to secure incorporation but nothingcame of their efforts. This was recognized as a difficulty, and onNovember 10, 1864, about ten months after the reorganization wasbegun, F. Augustus Wood suggested that a committee be appointed

to look into the matter. This committee applied itself diligently to thetask with Wood apparently taking the foremost part.23 Wood musthave written to the Secretary of State of New York about the questionbecause a member of the Department of the Secretary of State indi-cated that there was no record of any organization of the same or of a similar name.24The committee reported its findings on the mode of incorporationat the first meeting in December, but it was laid over to a future date.This, however, did not preclude Wood from contacting an attorney.Joseph K. Murray, a lawyer from the financial district of the city,after proper inquiry and research assured Wood that as of January 20,1865, there was no impediment to incorporating the Society under itscurrent title of American Numismatic and Archaeological Society.25By January 26, 1865, all was in readiness and a new committee oftenwas appointed to carry out the incorporation. The offices of Curator

and Librarian, however, were still held by one man, Edward Groh,and this was not in accord with the provisions of the new Constitution.28On February 9, 1865, the two offices were divided by the election of aLibrarian, Frank Leathe.27 This cleared the way for the incorporationand Wood, with his accustomed energy, pushed the matter to a con-clusion.28 The act of Incorporation dated May 16, 1865, was accom-plished over the signature of seven officers of the Society at the time,

Frank H. Norton, President; Isaac J. Greenwood, Jr., 2nd Vice-President; James Oliver, Recording Secretary; F. Augustus Wood,



40 REBIRTH AND GROWTHCorresponding Secretary; John Hanna, Treasurer; Frank Leathe,Librarian; and Edward Groh, Curator. In addition, Daniel Parish,Jr., and William Wood Seymour, signed as members of the Society,and Joseph K. Murray, the attorney, as a witness. It is certainlystrange that the only officer missing from the list of incorporators was

Dr. George H. Perine, 1st Vice-President, but there is no satisfactoryexplanation for this fact. On May nth, the Society voted to print theAct of Incorporation, and this was done some time in June after ithad been accepted by the State.29For some reason the attorney's services with regard to the act of incorporation were not found completely satisfactory to the members;when the committee presented a copy of the documents, an objection

was made to a clause recommending that a vote of thanks be tenderedto the attorney, and it was decided to expunge it. It was then suggestedthat a committee of three be appointed to wait on Murray and torequest him to present a bill for his services, but this also was rejected.The President finally vacated the chair to move that the CorrespondingSecretary be directed to convey the thanks of the Society to JosephK. Murray "for his kind attention to the furthering of the objects of the Society in obtaining their incorporation." This was adopted.Despite the fact that continuity with the earliest stage of the Societywas clearly fixed in the minds of those who reorganized it in 1864, itis not surprising to find that many people had forgotten that such asociety existed in New York. This is perhaps best illustrated by theletter from Henry Champion of the New Haven Numismatic Societyto F. Augustus Wood.30 Wood had written twice to New Haven inMarch and early April with regard to the catalogue of the Yale College

Collection. Champion after acknowledging the receipt of those twoletters went on to say, in part, "I write now to gain a little informationin regard to the American Numismatic Societyâ€”I made some in-quiries a few months since in regard to the New York NumismaticSociety, and was surprised at being informed that there was no suchorganization and in fact no Numismatic Society in the cityâ€”. Your letter was the first intimation that I have received of its existence

latelyâ€”." Champion's inquiries had been prompted by the fact thatthe New Haven Numismatic Society had struck a medal in tin and had



1864-1873 41voted to present a copy of that medal to each of several societies in-cluding the New York group. Wood's letter, coming as it did after thefailure of previous efforts to locate a New York Numismatic Society,presented a problem to Champion. He therefore advised Wood thatif the American Numismatic Society proved to be the only one in the

city he would forward the medal to it, but if there should prove to beanother society of like purpose, he would endeavor to have the NewHaven Numismatic Society present a second medal to the AmericanNumismatic and Archaeological Society.The New Haven group had been organized in 1862, but it was stillin its formative stages, and its constitution though fully accepted hadnot been printed. Their affairs were conducted on a rather informal basis,

and regular meetings appear to have been held rather infrequently.31 Itwas therefore just about a month later that Henry Champion was ableto write to Wood and inform him that the New Haven NumismaticSociety had deemed it best to consider the American Numismatic andArchaeological Society as the one referred to in their earlier resolutionand in consequence were sending the medal.32 Actually this decision torecognize the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society as theone in question was not as simple as it appears to be at first glance, for there were in New York at that time two numismatic societies.At the very first meeting of the reorganized American Numismaticand Archaeological Society, Frank H. Norton had informed the groupthat he had received an invitation and had even attended a meetingfor the purpose of forming a society to be called the "New York Numismatic Society." He moved that a committee be immediatelyappointed to confer with a committee of the projected society with the

object in mind of consolidating the two bodies. Norton and Oliver were promptly appointed to carry out this resolution.In the absence of an active organization devoted to numismaticpursuits during the last stages of the war, some citizens of the city whowere interested in the subject met in answer to invitations at the homeof Robert Hewitt, Jr., at 32 West 21st Street, on the evening of January23, 1864, for the purpose of founding such a group. There were a

number present at that meeting who had been members of the Societybefore the war, and many who had no previous connection with any



42 REBIRTH AND GROWTHnumismatic organization later became important members.33 In anyevent, the men who gathered at Hewitt's home were not unaware of the existence of the American Numismatic Society. Norton made astatement at that very first meeting regarding the past and presentcondition of the older organization, but it was not very hopeful for the

future of the Society, if one can judge from the fact that the very nextorder of business was to appoint a committee to draft a constitutionand by-laws for the new group. The new constitution was written andapproved at the next meeting on February 6, 1864, and the New York Numismatic Society was fairly launched on its short career. Its historyas a society runs parallel to that of the early days of the AmericanNumismatic and Archaeological Society, in that a great deal of time

was spent on formal organization and such matters as the designingof a seal and the like.Once they had attained a fair state of organization and had receivedtheir first donations,34 they were not inclined to disband their group or to merge it into the newly reorganized American Numismatic andArchaeological Society. As a result, Norton and Oliver reported onFebruary 18th that their conference with their opposite numbers of theNew York Numismatic Society had resulted in the conclusion "thatno arrangement concerning a junction of the two Societies could beeffected." They were accordingly discharged. By July of 1866, however,the situation had changed materially. The fifth regular meeting of thenew society was held on April 16, 1864, but for the next two years thegroup seems ot have remained dormant. The new society had started itscareer with a larger number of members than the American Numis-matic and Archaeological Society, and with several prominent citizens

among them, but after the first five meetings it appears to have beenunable to maintain its momentum. It was very quickly evident toleaders of the new group that it would be impossible to hold meetings.35The leaders therefore decided that a merger with the AmericanNumismatic and Archaeological Society was desirable. Such a merger involved the dissolution of the New York Numismatic Society asan entity, but it was done with grace. In July of 1866. J. N. T. Levick

presented a proposal for such a dissolution. The preamble and theresolution itself state most clearly the decision arrived at by the group:



1864-1873 43The undersigned, a majority of the members of the 'New York NumismaticSociety' deeming it inexpedient to longer continue the existence of that Society as anorganization, and desiring as far as possible to aid and benefit the 'American Num.& Arch. Society', have passed the following resolutions:â€”RESOLVEDâ€”That on and after the 31st day of July 1866, the N. Y. NumismaticSociety is and shall be permanently dissolved.

RESOLVEDâ€”That the Curator and Treasurer of said Society be instructed tomake over to the Am. Num. & Arch. Society, all property belonging to said Societynow in their possession."(Signed) W. C. Prime Jno F. McCoyJ. N. T. Levick Wm. H. StrobridgeR. Hewitt, Jr. C. DeF. BurnsWm. Anderson Jos. E. Gay Jas. Earle36Loring Watson John A. NexsonDuring the summer of 1866, however, the American Numismatic

and Archaeological Society did not meet regularly, and it was notuntil October 25th that official notice was taken of the action of theNew York Numismatic Society. At a meeting held on that date it wasordered that the resolutions of the now defunct group be entered inthe minutes, and that Levick, Hanna, and Groh be appointed toreceive the property of the New York organization. Notice of thesechanges and the resolution were published by the American Numis-matic and Archaeological Society at the time.37 There was, however,some delay before the transfer of all property was effected, and in

November of the same year the special committee appointed to overseethat transfer merely reported "progress" and not the completion of the task.The New York Numismatic Society was now only a memory, andthe minute book of that organization was transferred to the AmericanNumismatic and Archaeological Society along with its other property.There it rested with none to disturb it until March 25, 1869, when bysome error the minutes of the American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety began to be regularly entered in it. This practice continued

until January 27th of the following year when it was discovered, andthe Executive Committee of the Society decided that those minutesshould be properly recorded in the right minute book and that theminute book of the New York Numismatic Society should be "perma-



44 REBIRTH AND GROWTHnently preserved in the Library as a memento of the late 'N. Y. Numis-matic Society'"38On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of theUnited States, was cruelly assassinated as he sat in Ford's Theater inWashington. A cry of anguish went up from the nation, and the train

which took the body of the fallen President from Washington back toSpringfield, Illinois, passed along tracks which were lined with mourn-ful people. Walt Whitman wrote two poems "When Lilacs Last in theDooryard Bloom'd" and "O Captain! My Captain!" which werepublished in the Sequel to Drum Taps commemorating the passing of the great President. Individually and collectively the citizens reactedto the martyrdom of Lincoln. The American Numismatic and Archae-

ological Society held a special meeting on April 27th to take action onthe death of President Lincoln. Dr. Perine, Leathe, and Hanna wereappointed a special committee to draft resolutions on the melancholyevent. These three men retired from the room, but returned shortlyand presented a resolution which was carried. "RESOLVED, Thatsince it is the duty of this Society to perpetuate the memorials of historic greatness, we will cause to be struck in bronze a medal,designed to commemorate the life and perpetuate the name of AbrahamLincoln; and that a Committee be appointed to carry this resolutioninto effect."39 Leathe was then asked to prepare a copy of this resolutionfor the press. At the next meeting, that of May nth, the work waspushed forward as quickly as possible, and on the motion of Leathe,a committee headed by John Hanna was given charge of the strikingof a medal. The task of the committee involved obtaining estimates of probable expenses and also raising funds to carry out the terms of the

resolution, but they were not authorized to make contracts. They mightmerely confer with the agents of designers, medallists, and die-sinkers.40By that date a circular had already been published telling of theproposed medal in honor of Abraham Lincoln. F. Augustus Wood,who was never a man to permit action to be long delayed, wrote toBishop Wood of Philadelphia on the very next day. In his letter Woodindicated that he was enclosing the circular and stated that the Society

was offering to "any person acting as agent for subscriptions a discountof twenty percent when paid." He requested that the Bishop place this



1864-1873 45circular and offer "in the hands of any responsible person to whomthe profit would be acceptable."41 The canvassing for funds had nowbegun in earnest, but as Edward H. Coates, a corresponding member from Philadelphia, pointed out in one of his letters to Wood, he had"nothing to show or to promise except that it is the expectation of the

Society if the necessary funds are raised" to strike such a medal to aid himin his canvassing. He suggested that a printed design be cheaply gottenup with some little description and the double guarantee of thereturn of paid funds should the medal not be struck, and that if struck the price agreed upon for purchase would be the lowest offered either before or after the medal was issued.42 Publicity, however, was not thereal problem because the New York Herald of May 18th carried a short

advertisement of the medal;43 and since the Herald was a very widelyread paper, questions came from as far afield as Washington, D. C.and Rutland, Vermont, requesting further information.44It is certain that the plan for the striking of a medal in honor of Abraham Lincoln stirred up a certain amount of excitement, and byMay 2Oth a letter from the U. S. Mint had been received which pre-sumably inquired about the medal. The exact contents are unknownbecause it has not been preserved, but its receipt was sufficiently impor-tant to be recorded in the minutes of the Society. There were by thatdate eighty names listed among the subscribers, and it seemed quitecertain that the undertaking would be a success. Power was thereforegiven to the committee headed by John Hanna to contract for thedies and to complete all arrangements for the production and distribu-tion of the medal. This served to stimulate the response to the projectto even greater heights, and by May 29th the number of subscribers

had swelled to one hundred and twenty and was still growing.45It would seem as though some sort of competition were held, andthat after the inscription had been chosen by the committee, designswere furnished by a number of die-sinkers with the final result thatthe work of Emil Sigel of New York was pronounced to be the mostsatisfactory and a contract was entered into between him and theSociety.46 Sigel himself was certainly not a prominent medallist.

Indeed, it would not be unfair to say that if he is recognized in anyway it is because the Society employed him for the Lincoln medal.47



46 REBIRTH AND GROWTHOne thing, however, must be said in favor of Sigel and that is that heevidently got right down to work. In his letter to Hayden on May29th, F. Augustus Wood pointed out that the medal was to be issuedat five dollars per copy, and that though the design was not as yetcompleted it was expected that it would be within a very few days.48

Great progress was also made in publicizing the fact that the Societywas going to strike a medal to commemorate Abraham Lincoln, andthe various newspapers which occasionally carried notices of themeetings of the Society published some of the details regarding theproduction of the medal which were discussed at Society meetings. Inaddition there were occasional notices which dealt only with the pro-duction of the medal and not with the activities of the Society at all.49

This was true not only of New York newspapers but also of those as far removed as Boston and Chicago. The local press naturally followedthe production of this medal to the very end with much greater detailthan did the more distant journals, but it is significant that it receivedwhat amounted to nationwide publicity.50By June 8th the work had progressed far enough so that the com-mittee in charge could report that subscribers were being rapidlyobtained and they exhibited a wood cut design of the medal which wasto be used on a circular to aid in the sales. Apparently the Societycontinued to print and distribute circulars about the new Lincolnmedal, and perhaps it was in connection with one such circular sentto the Rhode Island Numismatic Society that William F. Barber wasmade aware of the proposed medal. At any rate, on August 26th, hewrote to the committee offering his services and mentioning the factthat he was for many years a member of the Royal Academy of London,

and that in the course of his many years of experience he had prepareda life size medallion of Lincoln which was considered a perfect likeness.51Here then was a man who certainly seemed better suited for the task in hand than Sigel, but the contract had been awarded to the latter some three months earlier.52 George T. Paine, Vice-President of theRhode Island Numismatic Association, wrote a strong letter of re-commendation in support of Barber's application to do the Lincoln

medal,53 but the matter had to be referred to John Hanna. Wood in-formed Paine of that fact and also indicated his impression that the



1864-1873 47dies were "already too far advanced towards completion to admit of change."54 Hanna apparently agreed with Wood and added "I shouldlike very much to have had these letters about 6 weeks ago. At presenthowever they are I think valueless, as our dies are in too advanced astate, & whether well or ill done we must father them."55 Wood, it

seems, was lax for the first time and did not respond to Barber becauseon January 11, 1866, the medallist again wrote to the Society suggestingthat he be engaged to do the medal.56 On that occasion Daniel Parish,Jr., answered him, "Unfortunately for your application, the work onthe medal has been given out as long ago as last June. So that, evenyour application made last August would have been too late, to saynothing of the recent one. The die of the medal has so nearly reached

completion, that an impression in solder has been already exhibited,and those in bronze are looked for every day."67The medal itself was ready for the first strikings early in the year 1866, and a few impressions were made. It was then decided that present-ations should be made to President Andrew Johnson and to GeorgeBancroft, the orator of the day, on the occasion of the anniversaryceremony in memory of the birth of President Lincoln. At the meetingof February 8, 1866, Dr. Perine was delegated to make the presentation.This fact was reported in the press,58 and Dr. Perine promptly departedfor Washington where on February nth he formally presented im-pressions of the medal to President Johnson and to Bancroft.59 Ap-parently the committee in charge of the ceremonies had not beenadvised in advance, and as a result it was impossible for them to haveDr. Perine make the presentation on February 12th without disturbingthe program. The press reports, however, indicated that both President

Johnson and Bancroft were delighted with the presentations; and onhis return from Washington, Dr. Perine was called upon to give theSociety a verbal report of the ceremonies and to present a still moredetailed version at a later meeting.But the matter of the Lincoln medal was not so easily concluded.At the meeting of March 2nd the committee in charge of the medalpresented a list of institutions and persons to whom it thought the

medals ought properly to be sent, and on motion from the floor, thePhiladelphia, New Haven, and Boston Numismatic Societies were



48 REBIRTH AND GROWTHadded to the list. The expense involved in these presentations was con-siderable, and it seems clear that the Society was still soliciting sub-scribers. The circulars with the woodcut drawing were not a veryeffective means of stimulating purchases because of the poor qualityof the woodcut and the fact that an attempt was made to print it in

bronze colored ink.60 It was certainly with one eye to the increasedrevenue, and perhaps with the other to a wider distribution of themedal abroad, that a letter was addressed to the firm of StevensBrothers in London to aid in obtaining subscriptions. This was donebefore the first striking of impressions from the dies, and on February14, 1866, Stevens Brothers responded by accepting the commission.The woodcut prints which were sent to them, however, were not very

satisfactory, and as a result, on March 3, 1866, they wrote to theSociety once again requesting that some copies of the medal be sent tothem and indicating that as of that time they had only succeeded inobtaining about half a dozen subscriptions.61 A sample medal in whitemetal was prepared, exhibited to the Society on March 8th, and for-warded to the London firm. About a month later, Wood wrote to theLondon agents explaining the delay and telling them that he hadforwarded to them "three weeks since a sample medal in whitemetal designed to exhibit fully the plan of the medal. The only bronzemedals yet struck were those presented to President Johnson andMr. Bancroft The dies were even then in an imperfect con-dition. Since the finishing of the dies, however, the presses, which wereengaged on the Vanderbilt medal ordered by Congress, have brokendown, adding another to the long series of vexatious delays which haveconstantly beset the path of the committee."82

The London firm, however, showed a certain prescience about thematter when on April 18th they wrote to Wood acknowledging receiptof the medals but adding, "The proof is much admired, and doubtsare expressed of the Society's being able to produce so good an im-pression in solid bronze."63At a special meeting on March 3oth the committee reported thatthe medals were in the process of being struck, but on April 12th, to

the dismay of the members of the Society, Hanna read a communic-ation from Sigel announcing the breaking of the dies of the Lincoln



Cooper Union (1859)

Hall of the Board of Education. Corner of Grand and Elm Streets (1854)



D̂r. George H. IVrinc

John Hanna

Robert Hewitt, Jr.

Daniel Parish, Jr.



1864-1873 49medal and suggesting that the medal be issued in tin. At the time thedies broke only sixteen bronze medals and a few in white metal hadbeen issued. Unfortunately the dies were so shattered that no thoughtcould be given to future issues of the medals in a hard metal.64 Thesituation was disastrous even though it was believed that medals could

have been issued on a softer planchet. The subject was not taken upformally, however, until April 26th when it was decided to accept theoffer made by Sigel to strike the medal in tin provided that he wouldguarantee the number of medals that would be issued perfectly. Acontemporary comment on the few medals that were successfully issuedin the harder bronze says that they "leave nothing to be desired, either in sharpness and force of outline, or in the life-like appearance of the

portrait," and it goes on to predict that, "The medal will be a creditto the artist and to the country."65In London the firm of Stevens Brothers was busily engaged inattempting to dispose of copies of the medal and on May 24th a letter from them was read to the Society stating "that the specimen in block tin sent over to them had been received, and had elicited the com-mendation of all who had seen it, as fully bearing out the promises of the Society as to the accuracy of the likeness and artistic excellence of the workmanship," and a circular issued by their firm as well as a copyof the Anglo-American Times with an editorial notice of the medal wereincluded in their letter.66 The distribution of the sixteen medalswhich had been struck prior to the shattering of the dies took intoaccount the problem faced by the agents of the Society in securingsubscriptions. One of the medals was sent to the London firm and an-other to J. Henry Applegate, Jr., of San Francisco, who was also an

agent of the Society.67Apparently Sigel found that he could not guarantee the number of medals that could be struck from the fractured dies even in soft metal,because at the meeting of May 24th it was announced that he was pro-ceeding with the manufacture of new dies. This entailed an increasedexpenditure and a consequent re-examination of the financial aspectsof the production of a Lincoln commemorative. The Finance Com-

mittee of the Society was charged with the responsibility of raising thesums necessary for completion of the enterprise. At the special meeting



50 REBIRTH AND GROWTHof the Society on June 2Oth, after the Finance Committee report of aweek earlier had been handed back and the Committee had been toldto meet again and to prepare another report, the Committee recom-mended "That all members of the Society, who have not subscribedfor two medals, or the sum of ten dollars, be requested to do so. That

a loan of ten dollars be requested from each member. That, shouldthe amount to be obtained fall short, a committee be appointed tosolicit such sums as will make up the deficiency." It was also decidedat the same time, upon a motion made by John Hanna, "That thePresident of the Society and the committee on the Lincoln medal beappointed a joint committee, to confer with Mr. Emil Sigel, and totake into consideration the question of the medal; and that said com-

mittee be empowered to make such arrangements, on behalf of theSociety, as they shall deem judicious, and that such arrangements beconsidered final." By October the committee on the Lincoln Medalwas able to report that Mr. Sigel, the artist, had been conferred withand that it was arranged to have a number of medals struck in block tin."68A new factor came into the question when in the same month an-nouncement was made of a new invention capable of making very finereduced copies of bas-reliefs for medal and coins dies.69 A monthearlier B. F. Stevens of the firm of Stevens Brothers had written to theSociety and sent two medals which were to be presented to it on behalf of J. S. and A. B. Wyon. With his letter Stevens apparently enclosed acircular put out by the Wyons and suggested that it was of interest and"perhaps utility" and would be more likely to be appreciated inAmerica. He also suggested that "If the Society desires an example of

the work for comparison, and will send me a medal to be used as apattern, I shall have much pleasure in asking Messrs. Wyon to complywith the request."70 This letter was read to the Society on November 8th,and Wood was instructed to notify the London firm that they mightprepare only six copies of the Lincoln medal by the new technique.71The agents in London, however, had presumed to act on their ownauthority. On October 26th J. S. and A. B. Wyon had written to

Wood, "Mr. B. F. Stevens having kindly allowed us to make reductionsfrom your Society's Lincoln medal, by means of our valuable machine,



1864-1873 51for the sake of illustrating its capabilities, we have the pleasure of requesting you to present to the Society, on our behalf a set of themedals struck from these dies so engraved. We do not intend to doanything further with these reductions than (with Mr. Steven's consent)to show them as specimens of the work of our machine. We will on no

account part with any, except in such manner and under such restric-tions as your Society may wish; and, should your Society wish topurchase the dies, or to be supplied with medals struck from them, weshall have much pleasure in receiving instructions on the subject."72This letter, as can well be imagined, did not create as favorable animpression of the London correspondents as was desired. It had notbeen expected that they would take matters into their own hands. The

result was that when the correspondence with Stevens Brothers andwith J. S. and A. B. Wyon was read to the membership at the regular meeting on December I3th, there were instant demands that theCorresponding Secretary be directed to correspond with StevensBrothers with regard to their granting permission to reproduce theLincoln medal. At the same time it was decided that the Committeeon the Lincoln Medal should open a correspondence with Sigel to"obtain from him a statement of account and full particulars of allmatters referring to the medal."73Apparently the answers given by Sigel and Stevens Brothers provedto be satisfactory because at the meeting of February 1867 the reportof the correspondence between Sigel and the Lincoln Committee wastabled until a later date, and John F. McCoy was empowered to pur-chase twenty-five sets of the medal from Wyon for the use of membersof the Society.74 At the same meeting it was found desirable to add

Professor Anthon and Daniel Parish, Jr., to the committee on theLincoln medal. The addition of these two men to the committee musthave considerably strengthened it.Of Professor Charles E. Anthon's connection with the Society wehave already spoken, and his prominence indicated how much im-portance was placed on the activities of this committee. Daniel Parish,Jr., was also one of the most important members of the Society. Parish

was an independently wealthy man who joined the Society in 1865,and in the same year was elected Corresponding Secretary. He was



52 REBIRTH AND GROWTHappointed to the Financial Committee in 1866 and continued throughmany offices until 1883 when he was elected President. He continuedin that post until 1895 when he retired, but served in a number of other offices. In 1908 he was elected Honorary President of the Society.His interests and activities were wide, and he was a contributor to the

American Journal of Numismatics. In 1882 he became connected with theNew-York Historical Society, and his benefactions to its Library aregathered in the Parish Collection.75 His donations to the AmericanNumismatic and Archaeological Society were commemorated by amedal designed by Madam Lea Ahlborn and struck by the Society in189o.76 Upon his retirement from the office of President of the Society,he was signally honored by a series of resolutions in which the officers

and members of the Society expressed their warm feelings of gratitudefor his thirty years of active service to the group and his many bene-factions.The Lincoln Medal Committee, augmented by the membership of these two well known members, was now faced with the task of solvingthe financial problem connected with the issuance of the medal andthe preparation of the new dies. On March 14, 1867, they proposedthat the Society should issue fifty medals in tin, which would be soldto the members at three dollars each. The membership, however, after a prolonged discussion, decided rather that a subscription of threehundred dollars gathered from among themselves should be taken, andthat the money should be given to Sigel to make it possible for him toproceed according to the earlier arrangement with the preparation of new dies. A committee of three men, Elisha Y. Ten Eyck, CharlesE. Anthon, and Daniel Parish, Jr., was appointed to carry out this

decision.77By March it was clear that the original Lincoln Medal Committeehad done all that could be expected of it, and it was decided to relievethat group of all responsibility but to continue the special committeeconsisting of Ten Eyck, Anthon, and Parish. This was done barelytwo weeks after the special committee had been established, and thenew group took over all functions of the earlier one.78 In June, July,

and August of 1867, an advertisement of the Lincoln Medal Committeesigned by the three members appeared on the inner cover of the



1864-1873 53American Journal of Numismatics. It explained the difficult situation causedby the shattering of the first set of dies and indicated that new dies werealmost complete. The new medals differed in some details from theolder ones, and as a result the offer was made that those who had sub-scribed for the original medal might have either a single impressionin tin from the original dies with a case, or two such impressions

without the case, or, if they chose, they might receive a single bronzeimpression from the new dies. Thus a solution had been worked out for the difficult situation caused by the unforeseen breaking of the first setof dies.On July 16th the Committee was called upon to report on the con-tracts that they had entered into and upon the funds at hand. We maypresume that the report was satisfactory. Four months later they wereable to state that the dies had been completed, and that the medalswere about to be issued. In December another statement was made on

the status of the project, and it apparently stimulated some debateamong the members because of the financial difficulties encountered.It was decided to grant the committee the power to endorse a note inbehalf of the Society for the striking of the piece.79Everything was now prepared for the striking of the medal, butWillliam E. Dubois, Superintendent of the U. S. Mint at Philadelphia,had some reservations about the medal itself. Arrangements had to bemade with him for this final step, and on January 14, 1868, he wroteto the Society indicating his fears regarding the task.80

On inquiry, I am told that on acct of the excessive relief, & large diameter, andflat table, each medal will require 25 to 30 blows of the medal press, with an anneal-ing each time; it will take four men a whole day to strike four medals; and that thecharge, including the copper, would in any ordinary case be not less than five dollars;but in this case, it will be put at $4.25, as the lowest we dare to take, acting as we doin a public capacity. I am extremely sorry to have to say so. 'We consider the Diesa great success,' you say; I must frankly reply, we consider them a great blunder.What induced the man to make such a huge relief, & throw the features, the out-lines of the face particularly, almost out of sight? But I am afraid to say another

word, lest you should think me prejudiced, or unkind. As a casting, it might do; asa medal to be struck, it is in violation of all rule.I must add, that the Mint will not take any responsibility, as to the dies standinggood, through such extra hard work.



54 REBIRTH AND GROWTHWhat a pity you did not wait for our Medal machine! All that the artist nowhas to do, is to make his model in wax.(one paragraph omitted)I forgot to say, that the Mint will not be in undue hurry about payment, wherethe parties are so respectable & responsible; & that copies can be kept here onsale at your price, and for your account.

At the meeting of January 23, 1868, the Committee on the LincolnMedal outlined the terms to be arranged with the designer of themedal. Three possibilities presented themselves: to pay Sigel threehundred dollars and to take the new dies and all medals on hand fromthe old ones; to pay Sigel seven hundred dollars and to take all materialand both sets of dies; and finally to have Sigel pay the Society either in money or medals, seven hundred and twenty dollars and to yield tohim all stocks and ownership of both sets of dies. The choice was nota very hard one for the Society. The third arrangement was quickly

decided upon as the best. In February a settlement was reached withSigel on those terms with the added provision that Sigel agreed not tostrike or permit any copies to be made of either the dies or the medalsother than those which the Society should provide for until their lienof $720 should have been cleared.81There were some few interesting sidelights to the final productionof this medal. It had never been fully ascertained whether or not theSociety actually had the authority to issue medals, and so on January23rd Wood was requested to discover if such was the case. By that time

the medal was already well on the way to final production and theoriginal medals had been distributed. Happily there does not appear to have been any difficulty over the matter, but in publishing their minutes for the meeting of January 23rd the members of the Societyvery wisely omitted any mention of the business transacted at thatmeeting.The distribution of the medal and the final settlement of all affairsconcerning it was spread over several years. On March 26, 1874, thecommittee was requested to issue a final report. On December 1st of

the same year that report was made by the Executive Committee:In regard to the Lincoln medal business, they would report, that they have four impressions in tin from the first set dies, and nine medal cases. The receipts for medals



1864-1873 55sold are $102.50 less $40, paid Mr. Chas. McFarlan, being money advanced by himfor a silver medal which was never struck. The dies and appurtenances belongingthereto are in the hands of Mr. Sigel, who, according to the last agreement madewith him, was to become sole owner of the dies upon delivery of $720, less cost of tin medals already delivered. As yet he has failed to perform his contract. Thiscommittee have (sic!) placed one of the Tin Lincoln Medals in the Society's

Cabinet, and have (sic!) forwarded one (with case) to our corresponding member,Mr. Vail, now in London, for the purpose of obtaining further subscriptions.Medals had in the meanwhile been distributed to a number of people, and one impression was given to the cabinet of the U. S. Mint.As far as the Society was concerned, it therefore seemed best to endthe entire affair which by this time had dragged on for almost tenyears. On January 29, 1875, the Executive Committee of the Societywas authorized to dispose of all rights, interest and title in the Lincoln

medal and the dies so as to close the matter. Apparently the committeesucceeded in the task, though the exact details of the arrangementsthat were made are somewhat open to question. Both sets of the dies,however, are now in the possession of the Society, so it seems probablethat Sigel never did fulfil his contract but rather surrendered thedies. What other terms were involved in the final settlement mustremain an enigma in the face of the absence of records, but after thefirst month of 1875 there was no longer any discussion regarding theLincoln medal.One other accomplishment of note aside from the Lincoln medal isworthy of discussion during this period in the history of the Society.Even prior to the election of Professor Anthon as a resident member inthe closing days of 1866 there was within the Society a movement for the establishment of a numismatic journal in this country.82 In Europesuch journals already existed in some numbers. The Numismatic Journal,which was later to become the Numismatic Chronicle, appeared for theyears 1835-7, tne Revue numismatique frangaise first appeared in 1836,

the Revue beige de numismatique in 1845, and the Annuaire de la Societefrangaise de numismatique et d'archeologie in 1866. The German, Swiss,and Italian publications, however, are considerably later in date. Un-doubtedly the existence of these western European journals served as astimulus to the American Numismatic Society to issue an American



56 REBIRTH AND GROWTHjournal of comparable quality. The idea for such a journal wasinitially proposed by Levick on March 8, 1866, about the time thatthe Annuaire de la Societe franfaise de numismatique et d''archeologie was firstbeing issued. There does not appear to be any direct connectionbetween these two contemporary events, but the general knowledge of

the existence of such journals in Europe must have been a primarycause for the suggestion. Levick's proposal involved the establishmentof a monthly journal of "numismatic and archaeological intelligence,"and after a general expression of approval from the membership hismotion was adopted with the amendment that a committee of fiveshould study the problem of such a journal. The five appointed wereLevick, Wood, Perine, Norton, and the Reverend Seymour.Levick, as the man who originated the idea of the American Journal

of Numismatics, must remain a somewhat unknown figure. Very littleinformation other than what he has left to us about his past as a coincollector or his connection with the Society is available. It would seemas though Levick was originally from Philadelphia, and that he wasa member of the original Philadelphia Numismatic Society. In hisReminiscences of Coin-Collecting Levick speaks with fond remembranceof Cogan's store in that city and mentions the advantages whichaccrued to those who were members of the Philadelphia Society.83 It

also seems clear that he was not a resident of New York until after 1859because he speaks of a visit to the city in that year at which he "rather astonished many of the New Yorkers, by the spirited manner in which(he) bid for pieces."84 By 1864, however, Levick had taken up residencein New York, acting as a banker and broker dealing in governmentsecurities, specie, stocks and bonds, and gold, with offices at 44 WallStreet, and he proceeded to follow his numismatic pursuits as one of the founders of the New York Numismatic Society and as member of

its Committee on Constitution and By-Laws. His activities in supportof that new organization were recognized in February of the sameyear when at the suggestion of another member it was voted that hisname should be the first on the list of original members. The New York Numismatic Society, as we have already seen, was doomed, and ceasedto be a functioning body after only a very few meetings. On December 14, 1865, Levick became a resident member of the American Numis-



1864-1873 57matic and Archaeological Society. He rapidly became a leadingmember and served in many offices.Levick's suggestion was adopted, and at the annual meeting onMarch 22, 1866, the committee advised the establishment of thejournal but pointed out the difficulties involved. A committee con-

sisting of Levick, Perine, and Hanna was set up with power to appointan editor and to carry out the mandate of the Society. It was recognizedat the time that there might be certain financial problems which wouldarise, and as a result a resolution was adopted stating that the Societywould guarantee the publication for one year, "and that, if necessary,all expenses shall be made good by assessments on the members."News of the project spread rapidly. The publishers of the Bankers"

Magazine and Record of Civilization suggested that the two publicationsbe combined, but this was rejected. In May, the first issue was ready,and the proof sheets were exhibited at the meeting on the 10th of thatmonth. On the 24th, the Publication Committee states that the firstnumber had been issued.The first issue of the American Journal of Numismatics is in many waystypical of the Journal throughout most of its career. It containedpublished notices and minutes of the meeting of the Society and anumber of short, rather popularized articles. The scientific aspects of numismatics were still not the primary interest of the Society, whichwas for the most part composed of collectors and not scholars. TheJournal, however, served clearly as the organ of the Society, and manyof the papers delivered before the Society were later published in it.Early reports indicated that the entire project might be consideredsuccessful, but there were continued attempts to build up the circula-

tion to the point where the Journal would be self-sustaining. As earlyas the third issue in July of 1866 the transactions of the Boston Numis-matic Society were included in the section headed Transactions of Societies. In the fourth issue the minutes of the New England Numis-matic and Archaeological Society appeared as well. The list of organi-zations, including some in Canada, using the Journal as a means of communication, continued to grow. There was in addition a section

devoted to notes and queries which must have appealed to mostcollectors as a common source of information answering their questions



58 REBIRTH AND GROWTHon all fields of numismatics. Certainly this was not one of the scholarlypublications of the world, but it was a pleasant little monthly devotedto short articles or notes on matters of interest to collectors.As the year 1867 began it was clear that the Journal was not self-sustaining, much less a financial success. The issue of March 1867,

which marked the end of the first year of publication, was noteworthyfor the inclusion of an editorial entitled "Numismatic Journalism asa Fine Art." The article pointed out that the Journal would have to beconsidered a financial failure. It was true that it had provided avaluable service in its columns and that all the numismatic societies of the country, save two, had used its pages as a means of communication,but there had been no overwhelming rush on the part of numismatists

to become subscribers. The end of the first year found the Society indebt for one half the expenses, and it must not be forgotten that theorganization had agreed to meet all such expenses. At least one hundrednew subscribers were necessary before the Journal could become com-pletely self-sufficient. A plea was made that if each subscriber were tosecure one more, then the number would be more than adequate.85This situation of financial instability had to be faced, but themembers of the Society were reluctant to drop such an admirableproject. On April 1 1th the President of the Society, Frank H. Norton,stood alone among the group and advocated a quarterly issue and aquarto form. It was his first step in opposition to the Journal and didnot bode well for the future of that publication. Two resolutions,however, were passed which gravely affected further developments.Firstly, it was decided that the Journal would be continued during theensuing year in its present form and at the same dates of publication.

And it was decided that the Editorial Committee would be chosen byballot.86 The Editorial Committee thus chosen consisted of Professor Anthon, Elisha Y. Ten Eyck and Dr. George H. Perine. "Norton, whowas originally chosen third on the Committee, having, for privatereasons, declined to serve for a second year-," the Committee on thefollowing evening decided to distribute its tasks with Dr. Perine asChief Editor, Professor Anthon as Literary Editor, and Ten Eyck as

Business Editor.87 Anthon was, of course, the most prominent member of the Committee and the only one with any pretensions to being a



1864-1873 59scholar. Power was, however, vested in this Committee to enlarge theJournal to 16 pages 8vo., if they deemed that advisable, and in fact thenext issue was somewhat larger. This ran directly contrary to the view,forcefully expressed by President Norton, that the Journal had to becut.88

It was, however, towards the end of the month, on April 25th, thatthis matter of Norton's opposition to the general program of the Publi-cation or Editorial Committee reached a climax.89 The Committeehad on that evening presented a report of its progress and indicatedthat the May number of the Journal was well along in preparation.This report was accepted, and Levick rose and moved that the com-mittee be discharged "in order that it might be reappointed as a

standing committee." His intention was quite clearly understood to bethe reappointment of the same members to the committee. The Com-mittee expressed itself as quite in accord with the idea of converting itself into a standing committee with permanent status. Levick was crystalclear as to what was to follow the adoption of his resolution, and therewas no reason for confusion. At that point the rules were suspended topermit the admission of a new member. That interruption may wellhave had fatal consequences for any hope of accomplishing the changewithout incident. After the rules were restored, President Norton pro-ceeded to appoint the standing committees for the ensuing year, namingas the Committee of Publication, Hanna, Perine, and Oliver. Professor Anthon, the most respected scholar among the members, and ElishaTen Eyck, both of whom were destined to hold high office in theSociety, had been publicy insulted by their exclusion from this com-mittee when it was clearly Levick's intention that all should be re-

appointed. Both men were not of the type that receives such insultslightly, and after making appropriate remarks regarding this unjustifiedexercise of presidential power, they resigned all the offices held bythem in the Society. The other members present at the meeting re-cognized the usurpation of authority, and a motion that Norton beinvited to resign the Presidency was passed without anyone speakingagainst such harsh action. He had taken a calculated risk in his opposi-

tion to the Journal and the Editorial Committee, and he had failed.Norton stepped down to be replaced as Chairman pro tem by one of



60 REBIRTH AND GROWTHthe very men whom he had so unwisely insulted, Elisha Y. Ten Eyck.In the election for President which followed, the other member of thecommittee who had been insulted, Professor Anthon, was duly electedto serve out the unfinished term of Norton's presidency. Anthon,however, expressed his reluctance at accepting such an office per-

manently, explaining his conviction that he would be more useful tothe Society in his capacity as Corresponding Secretary and Editor.90Since Anthon declined the office a motion that Ten Eyck be declaredPresident pro tern, was accepted, and the election of a President wasmade the Special Business of the next meeting. Levick now moved toreconsider his motion to discharge the Editorial Committee and toappoint a standing committee, with the result that the Editorial

Committee was reinstated, and the situation was restored to the statusquo ante save for the fact that Norton was no longer President.The minutes of this stormy meeting of April 25th were directed tobe handed to the Editorial Committee for preparation and publicationin the May issue of the American Journal of Numismatics. The membersof that committee who were then in the ascendency showed a greatdeal of restraint in their treatment of these minutes. A comparison of the written record with the published one shows very little discrepancy,but they did feel constrained to add a note. "It may be not improper to insert here the first paragraph in the First By-Law of the Society:'The President shall preside at all meetings of the Society, shall decideall points of order, subject to appeal, and shall have a casting vote. Heshall appoint all Committees authorized by the Society, unless otherwisespecially ordered.' "91 Italicising the last four words clarified the positionof the Editorial Committee, but it must be remembered that even

though it was apparent that everybody understood the sense of Levick'sproposal to mean that the same men would be appointed, that doesnot seem to have been specifically stated in the resolution. This, however,caused no difficulty for the membership at large because at the nextregular meeting of the Society, on May 9th, particular note was madeof the fact that the minutes were "approved and adopted, both asrecorded and as printed in the Journal."'

At that same meeting, of course, the problem of replacing PresidentNorton had to be settled. All formalities were strictly adhered to, since



1864-1873 6Iit was a very sensitive matter. Two tellers were appointed, and onmotion the ballots were deposited on the call of name by the Secretary.Elisha Y. Ten Eyck received a majority of the votes cast and wasdeclared to have been elected, but this created a vacancy in the positionof Treasurer which Ten Eyck had held prior to the election. A ballot

for that office resulted in the election of Levick as Treasurer.92For the rest of the year 1867 the Journal continued to be publishedby the Editorial Committee with an improved typographical appear-ance, and it continued to meet with "warm approbation" on the partof numismatists, but the problem of sustaining such a publication grewincreasingly burdensome.93 The efforts of the Editorial Committee toincrease the number of subscribers were rewarded in fine fashion. The

circulation of the Journal had been less than one hundred when theEditorial Committee assumed charge of the publication, and theSociety had made good a deficit of over two hundred dollars on thefirst year's costs. By April 1868 the number of subscribers stood at twohundred, "and the subscription-money, if all paid up, would entirelydefray the expenses" of that year's publication. Therein, however, laythe rub. A certain dilatoriness on the part of subscribers to fulfil their pledged obligations was very evident. As a result the last issue of thesecond volume contained a plea to the subscribers and numismatists"to transmit at once the amount of their indebtedness" so that theEditorial Committee might eliminate the debts incurred and beginthe new year a fresh slate.94 Once again the promise was made thatany excess of funds would be applied to the task of illustrating theJournal, and the hope was expressed that its success and permanencywould shortly be assured.

The annual election of 1868 was quite significant for the futurehistory of the Society and the Journal. Elisha Y. Ten Eyck declined tobe a candidate for re-election with the result that changes werenecessary in the entire slate of officers. Professor Anthon, who was thenserving as Corresponding Secretary, was now elected President, andhis former office was given to Robert Hewitt, Jr.95 Levick retained hispost as treasurer. It will be remembered that the two most active

figures in the production of the Journal were Anthon and Levick. Atthe suggestion of Edward Groh, it was decided to publish the Journal



62 REBIRTH AND GROWTHfor another year, and it was also determined that the Editorial Com-mittee should consist of the President and Treasurer.96 Effective controlwas now vested in the hands of Anthon and Levick, and it is clear thatthe actual editorial work was performed by Professor Anthon, whileLevick, who was a member of the Finance Committee of the Society,

handled the business affairs. This was obviously a sound arrangement,because it utilized the talents of each man in the field in which he wasa specialist.Levick, as a businessman, was cognizant of the difficulties in thepublication of the Journal. After he had delivered a realistic report onthe publication in October of 1868, Hanna moved that the Presidentwrite to the leading numismatic societies looking towards an annual

rotation of the task of editing and publishing the Journal. His motionwas adopted.97 Of course such action involved negotiations withvarious other societies, and it was not until the annual meeting of 1870that Anthon was able to report that William Sumner Appleton of theBoston Numismatic Society, with a committee of that Society, hadagreed to undertake the editorship of the Journal for the next year withthe proviso that the American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety guarantee a subscription for the Journal of one hundred dollarsand distribute it among the friends of the Society for that amount.98In the month prior to the inauguration of the fourth year of pub-lication, Levick again suggested that a change be made in the Journal.At his suggestion the name was altered so as to reflect its wider scopeas the organ of the many numismatic societies. Originally it had beenthe American Journal of Numismatics and Bulletin of the American Numis-matic & Archaeological Society. After the issue of April 1868 the title read

American Journal of Numismatics and Bulletin of American Numismaticand Archaeological Societies."The last issue of the fourth volume of the American Journal of Numis-matics, which was published in April 1870, contained a valedictorystatement from the Editorial Committee explaining that the publi-cation was now passing from their control. The first issue of volumefive contained a notice from the committee of the Boston Numismatic

Society indicating that they were now accepting the responsibility.Appleton, Green, and Colburn, of the new Editorial Committee of the



1864-1873 63Boston Numismatic Society, who signed the notice, decided to reducethe subscription price from three dollars to two dollars, and to issue itas a quarterly rather than as a monthly.The American Journal of Numismatics, however, did not rotate on anannual basis from society to society, but continued as a publication of

the Boston group until 1908, when it was again returned to theAmerican Numismatic Society. The members of the Boston Numis-matic Society who served as the Editorial Committee during the inter-vening years, were prominent in their organization, for both JeremiahGolburn and Samuel Abbott Green served as Presidents of that bodyand William Sumner Appleton was Secretary. The American Numis-matic and Archaeological Society, on the other hand, appears to have

continued its interest in the publication, and this interest was expressedin concrete form in 1891 when Lyman H. Low, then Librarian of theSociety, was appointed as an Associate Editor representing the NewYork organization.100 It is, however, best to postpone consideration of the later history of the Journal to the appropriate place in the historyof the Society.101The general growth and development of the Society are mirroredclearly in its two great accomplishments during the years 1864-73,the Lincoln medal and the American Journal of Numismatics, butthese were by no means the only activities in which the Society in-dulged, nor was the fortune of the organization during these years atale of uninterrupted and general success. In February of 1864 theSociety, which had just been reorganized, received an invitation to par-ticipate in the Metropolitan Fair for the U. S. Sanitary Commission.102The Society accepted this invitation and decided to make a display of

some of its possessions, but this apparently presented something of aproblem to the Commission, for the objects were very small and theresponsibility for their protection weighed heavily upon the organizersof the Fair.103 Dr. Perine, who was taking such an active part in theaffairs of the Society at that time, offered to contribute a case and itscontents for such a display. A committee, as usual, was appointed tohandle the affair, and apparently it was carried off quite properly.

As a result of the Society's participation in the Sanitary Fair acorrespondence was begun between F. A. Wood and the American





Medal struck in Honor of Abraham Lincoln

J. Henry Applcgate.San Francisco Agent for the Sale of the Lincoln Medal

William R. Dubois,

Superintendant,U.S. Mint in Philadelphia



William Sumncr Appleton Jeremiah ColburnBoston Numismatic Society

William PoillonCyrus Jay Lawrence



1864-1873 65meeting was devoted to planning the course of that aid. Norton whowas in effective control of the Journal at that time had already takensome steps to support the exhibition. The leading editorial in the firstissue of the Journal for 1867, entitled "An International Coinage,"argued forcefully in support of the plan put forward by Ruggles.

At about the same time another series of editorials in the Journal on"The Depravity of American Coinage" was causing a great deal of comment, even in such a far off place as Chicago. The first of this seriesappeared in October of 1866 and later installments were included inthe issues of December 1866 and February 1867. In substance thesearticles protested vigorously against what was termed "debased"American coinage which even lacked artistic merit. Editorial comment

in various newspapers about the country was aroused. The ChicagoTribune, ardent champion of nationalism, while conceding the lack of artistry in American coinage dissented sharply on the question of thevalue of the coins. In the Tribune the belief was expounded that thecoins fairly represented "the values stated upon them." The disputecontinued through January when Congressman Morrill spoke in theHouse of Representatives on the question of "debased" Americancoinage and supported the position taken by Norton in the Journal.111It did not result in a new law.Though this dispute was heated and engendered a great deal of comment, about the period of the Paris Exposition of 1867, it does notseem to have had any lasting effect other than to stimulate greater activity in making a fine display for the country at Paris. The ParisExposition, however, was not the only foreign contact maintained bythe Society. The President of the Manchester Numismatic Society in

England opened a correspondence with our Society and made adonation to our library.112 Foreign contacts were increasing, and theparticipation of the Society in various fairs and exhibitions made for greater and more widespread knowledge of the group.Wider publicity regarding the activities of the Society resulted inan ever-increasing series of donations to the library and numismaticcollection. At the Annual Meeting in 1867, the Librarian reported the

holdings of the Society as ninety-two volumes, thirty-four newspapers,ninety-six catalogues, thirty-seven almanacs, and 286 pamphlets.113



66 REBIRTH AND GROWTHThree years later at the Annual Meeting in 1870, Wood reported asLibrarian that 959 books were held. This was, of course, a roughcalculation, but he pointed out that even so, there was only a verysmall proportion of that total which was relatively useless. The pro-jected idea for a Library Fund which had been suggested by Betts in

1869, however, had not come to fruition.114There is no need to enter into great detail about the growth of thenumismatic collection, but it is interesting to note that a series of letters from various U. S. Mint officials indicates that the Society wasconsulted and gave advice about the distribution of patterns of our national coinage. These letters are still preserved in the archives of the Society. In addition, successful efforts were made to secure copies

of the seals of the various States as well as numerous medals issued byother bodies, and cancelled dies. By 1870 the cabinet contained 2,294pieces, of which 1,509 were American.116The new Constitution of 1864 had established a Committee onAmerican Archaeology and one on Foreign Archaeology which werequite active during this period. Occasional donations of Indian relicsand the like were received by the Society, and these objects were care-fully examined and classified by the members of these committees.Nevertheless, it should be remembered that these activities in the fieldof archaeology never played a dominant role in the program of thegroup, and the numismatic collection was of much greater significance.The assorted curiosities, spear heads, and arrow heads appear to havehad only a passing interest for the majority of the members.In 1870 the roseate picture of the future of the Society assumedmore sombre colors. The minutes for the period from 1870 to 1873

are missing, as has already been pointed out, and during that periodthe Society had no permanent home. The preserved correspondencefor the same three years is very small and does not permit a full recon-struction of the events that transpired. Certainly the Society did notcease as an organization because there were some routine affairs whichwere treated in the letters. Donations to the Library and numismaticcollection were made and accepted. The Journal, as we have seen,

continued to be issued with admirable adherence to a fixed monthlyschedule, and to all external appearances the affairs of the Society



1864-1873 67were quite normal. Even in the minute book a satisfactory explanationwas given for the lacuna by the note indicating that the RecordingSecretary neglected "to preserve in any form his memoranda of transactions." A clear examination of the extant data, however,reveals that this three year period, from 1870-1873, was actually oneof decline from the flourishing years which just preceded it. In a letter

written in 1872, Professor Anthon, then editor of the Journal, notesthat he had received a photographic plate for presentation "to theSociety at its next meeting." He then adds, "Now when this nextmeeting is going to take place 'you nor I nor nobody (sic!) knows!"Since the problem of what to do with the plate remained, Anthondecided to give it into the safekeeping of Isaac F. Wood.116The Annual Meeting of March 27, 1870, resulted in the election of Benjamin Betts as President of the Society, and during this entire three

year period he appears to have remained in office. Why Anthon didnot retain the Presidency in that year is not known, nor is there anyrecord of an election until March 27, 1873, when he resumed thatoffice and Betts became First Vice-President.117Virtually nothing is known of the life of Benjamin Betts apart fromhis connection with the Society. His primary interest in numismatics,if one may judge from the articles which he published in the AmericanJournal of Numismatics, was in the field of medals.118 Betts joined theSociety in 1868, and the next year was elected to the office of FirstVice-President. After serving as President from 1870 to 1873 and onceagain as First Vice-President in 1873, he was elected Treasurer in1874. This post he held without interruption through 1888. OnJanuary 20, 1908 he was elected Honorary President, but on October 2nd of the same year he died in his home in Brooklyn at more thaneighty-six years of age.119Betts' administration as President, as has been pointed out, cameduring a period when the activities of the Society reached the nadir.

Wood, in a moment of reflection in 1892, penned the only descriptionwhich we possess of what actually happened to the Society duringthose three years.Its autonomy was still kept up by a cherishing and almost hopeless few, the lateMr. Oliver, Mr. Edward Groh, and others including my humble self, altho' we held6*



68 REBIRTH AND GROWTHno regular meetings. Mr. Groh boxed up the numismatics, Mr. Oliver encouragedus to hold on, 'there must be a good time coming.' I becased the books in my housein 17th St., and the Hon. Dr. Perine, the then Prex, "hung up the old swords, SouthSea Island clubs, Sleepy Hollow brick bats, 15th century wood carvings, andother 'archawologies'(?) in his office and, so far as I know, they have been hangingthere ever since, tho' just where his office 'hangs out' at this moment is a reservation

question."Finally the late Prof. Anthon was 'roped in' to give the stamp of his eruditemind to the Society; the Journal, already started, but having a weak foothold,commenced to reflect something besides 'the minutes of the last meeting were readand approved,' 'the Committee on old junk reported progress' etc., etc. and with along, strong, and altogether, pull, the craft was forged ahead into success which Ihope will be enduring, and as she swam with the new tide the hitherto askancersjumped in and swam with her into the harbor that Anthon and Poillon & Parish,etc. had been aiming for, for some time past.1*0

Apart from the fact that there is a good deal of misinformation inthis letter from Wood, there is clear evidence that the numismatic col-lection was held by Groh, the library by Wood himself, and thearchaeological collection by Dr. Perine, in the years 1870-1873. Avery few meetings were held, and the activities of the Society werealmost at a standstill. In 1873 the process of decline was reversed anda new infusion of vigor was evident. At the Annual Meeting of March27th new officers were elected, and these men were to hold office untila new Constitution and By-Laws were agreed upon. Thus the process

of alternating growth and decline which was so evident during theearly period of the history of the Society can be traced down to thislate date. The renewal of vigor, however, is best treated in a newcontext.



R PROGRESS AND CONFLICT1873-1883enewed vigor had been instilled into the Society in 1864, but theperiod of growth which followed was abruptly interrupted in 1870when all activity seems to have come to an end. Wood's letter, quoted

at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, provides an adequatedescription of the complete torpor which apparently seized the group.For three years virtually no meetings were held, and the future heldonly the bleakest prospect. Some few of the members, notably IsaacF. Wood, Professor Charles E. Anthon and William Poillon, held fastin their determination to continue, but it was an upward struggle.Finally in May 1874, a notice appeared in the local press that the

Numismatic Society had begun to hold regular meetings.1 Expressionsof satisfaction at this turn of events were immediate as old contactswere renewed, and applications for membership began to appear.2Reviving the Society however, was not a simple matter. The numis-matic collection had to be restored by Groh, who had maintained itduring the intervening years; the library had to be re-established byWood, who had kept the books at his home when the Society wasinactive; and the various articles of archaeological and anthropologicalinterest had to be recovered from Dr. Perine, who had retained themin his office. Groh and Wood apparently responded immediately and69



70 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTwillingly, but in the case of Dr. Perine negotiations were prolonged.As early as March 1873, at the annual meeting which was held at theCity College, Levick had reported that the archaeological portion of the Society's collection was held by Dr. Perine. By that date Perine hadceased taking an active part in the affairs of the group, so a committee

was appointed to visit him. At the next meeting of the Society Woodreported that Dr. Perine had promised to return the articles in hispossession to the Secretary at an early date. During the revival of activity which followed the annual meeting of 1874, both Wood andGroh returned the library and numismatic collections to the custodyof the Society, but Dr. Perine took no steps at all other than to renewhis promise. In reply to a letter from the Secretary sent to all who had

been members of the Society in 1870, Perine notified Poillon that hismembership "had ceased a long time ago."3At a meeting on January 29, 1875, it was reported that Professor Anthon had received a package from Dr. Perine containing "a crookedstick, a small birch canoe, a piece of shell dug from City Hall Park,a tile (one of two) from the house of Benedict Arnold, an old brick from Sleepy Hollow Church, which had been brought from Holland,a scrap book containing a few caricatures, and also a few minerals."The committee felt satisfied from personal examination that thisassortment did not comprise the total archaeological collection, butsince they were unable to ascertain what was originally placed inDr. Perine's possession they were forced to accept it as such. It will berecalled, however, that the description of these archaeological findsdoes not seem too far from that given in 1892 by Wood, who spoke of "old swords, South Sea Island brick bats, I5th century wood carvings

and other 'archawologies'."This collection of "antiquities" remained in Professor Anthon'srecitation room at the City College for some time where they formed"rather an unsightly mess." Anthon was a tolerant man and in hisletter to Wood informing him of the existence of these articles, heindicated that they could remain a little longer, "though not perma-nently."4 The future history of this particular assortment of objects

from the Society's collection will forever remain a mystery, but effortsto recover more from Dr. Perine were in vain. In January 1876,



1873-1883 71Oliver revealed that he had called on Dr. Perine but could obtainnothing further. Happily, the archaeological collection of the Societynever played a major role in its activities, and the loss seems to havebeen quickly forgotten.Aside from the recovery of the Society's effects, the most pressing

problem facing the group was one of organization. At the AnnualMeeting of 1873, Professor Anthon succeeded Benjamin Betts tothe Presidency, while Betts assumed the First Vice-Presidency.Daniel Parish, Jr., who had held that post, became Second VicePresident. At the same time Abraham Redlich yielded the post of Recording Secretary to William Poillon, and from that point on therecords of the Society were astonishingly well kept. The other offices

remained in the hands of their incumbents. These few changes in theupper echelons of the officers of the group probably served as theinitial impetus to a display of vigor.As was usual on such occasions, the very first order of business after the revitalization of the Society was the revision of the Constitutionand By-Laws. The legislative inclinations of these early numismatistswere not to be denied. A committee consisting of five members of theSociety under the chairmanship of Wood was appointed to study theproblem.5 One year later at the Annual Meeting of 1874, the results of the year's labor were presented, and a new simplified Constitution wasadopted with some few amendments. During the course of the nexttwenty years this document was to remain the basic statute of the organization. It is true that minor adjustments were madechanging the meeting dates and even augmenting the number of Vice-Presidents. This last change actually came about as a result of the

discovery by Wood, who was in charge of having the Constitutionprinted, that it did not conform to the Charter of Incorporation. Theoriginal charter called for a board of eight managers. The new Con-stitution, however, had combined the two offices of Recording Secretaryand Corresponding Secretary, and eliminated that of Second Vice-President, while at the same time it stipulated that the officers, of whomthere were thus only six, should "constitute an Executive Committee

for the general management of the interests of the Society."6 Woodwould probably have preferred to alter the Charter, but after some



72 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTdiscussion it was decided to amend the Constitution. At the AnnualMeeting of 1875, two new Vice-Presidents were added to the list of officers with the election of General John Watts De Peyster as First,and Robert L. Stuart as Third Vice-President. Benjamin Betts re-placed Levick as Treasurer. Thus the constitutional problem was solved.

Levick, however, was never again as active as he had been prior to 1874.For the most part, these men remained in office through the follow-ing decade though there was a succession of Vice-Presidents. Thisoffice required less activity than the others, but it seems to have de-volved upon men who were continually hard pressed for time. GeneralDe Peyster himself declined the office on June 4, 1875, barely four months after his election, and he was replaced by Frederic J. De

Peyster, his nephew. The De Peysters were a very prominent NewYork family, and for two centuries had been active in many organi-zations and given liberally of their time and fortune.7The other changes in the Constitution and By-Laws can easily betraced from the minute book of the Society and from the records of theExecutive Committee, but they did not materially affect the course of the history of the organization. Changes were made in the life member-ship fee and in the number of members required to form a quorum, buteven these alterations were few in number.There remained the old problem of quarters for the organization.The existence of the Library and collection made it almost a perennialone. In 1873, the first Annual Meeting held after the three year intervalof inactivity convened at the City College on Lexington Avenue andTwenty-third Street. This was an excellent temporary site for such ameeting, and it may be presumed that it was made available to the

Society by President Webb of the City College as a result of Professor Anthon's efforts. Such arrangements, however, were insufficient to fillthe long range needs for quarters in which to house the collections aswell as for a place in which to meet. The Annual Meeting of 1874 wasalso held in a temporary location, Mott Memorial Hall, the home of the Mott Memorial Free Medical Library, at 64 Madison Avenue. Thequarters were pleasing for the Executive Committee directed Wood to

secure future accommodations. In October, Wood reported that hehad engaged a room at Mott Memorial Hall for four meetings, and



1873-1883 73that space for a bookcase had been rented for one year at a total costof fifty dollars. The Society approved of this arrangement. Thus itwas that the first meetings of 1875 found the Society with what were,in effect, permanent quarters even though they were rented ones.This arrangement proved to be so satisfactory that it was continued

without interruption until March of 1878, when Wood was informedthat there was a distinct probability that the Society would lose itsrooms at Mott Memorial Hall. The very existence of such quarters andthe uninterrupted tenure of the various officers in their posts of respon-sibility had lent a certain stability to the Society. It is therefore rather surprising that for nine months no action was taken to forestall thepossibility of the Society becoming homeless. It is true that no formal

notice of the end of the arrangement had been given, but the evidencealready pointed in that direction. Even as late as November 19th,attempts were made to enlarge the facilities of the Society at its loca-tion on Madison Avenue. The Genealogical Society, which also usedthe facilities of Mott Memorial Hall, had obtained the use of theGallery on those premises at no additional expense. Betts and Woodwere promptly appointed as a committee to secure at least a part of the Gallery as an accommodation for the Society's property, butwhether they succeeded or not is unknown.By early 1875 the situation could no longer be ignored. Mr. Poncede Leon, a new member of the Society, suggested at a special meeting of the Executive Committee that he had reason to believe that if an ap-plication were made to Judge Charles P. Daly, President of the Ameri-can Geographical Society, a room could be secured at the buildingpurchased in 1876 by that Society at n West 29th Street.8 It was

promptly decided that the task of dealing with Judge Daly should beconfided to Professor Anthon. Three weeks later Anthon had beenunable to see Judge Daly even though he called on him twice. As aresult he wrote to him and extended an invitation to come to the specialmeeting of the Executive Committee or to the next regular meeting.It is more than likely that the Judge failed to respond because at theAnnual Meeting of March 16, 1879, Nestor Ponce de Leon was ap-

pointed a committee of one "to confer with the officers of the Geo-graphical Society and to ascertain what can be done toward securing



74 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTaccommodations in their building." By May 7th. Ponce de Leon wasforced to report to the Executive Committee that though he hadcalled a "great number of times" he had not been successful in seeingJudge Daly. The idea of securing quarters from the American Geo-graphical Society was of necessity abandoned. Wood promptly revived

the idea that it would be possible to obtain the use of the Gallery of Mott Memorial Hall, and that if the other societies which patronizedthe Hall would combine with them it would even be probable that theroom on the second floor of the building, which was then serving as thegymnasium, would be made available. He apparently found no sup-port for his proposal, so the problem still remained.A recent member, Gaston L. Feuardent, a noted dealer in antiqui-

ties, however, had made an offer to permit the Society to use a portionof his establishment at 30 Lafayette Street. This offer was made beforethe Executive Committee meeting of March 9, 1879, because at thatmeeting it was stated that he was quite anxious to have a reply. Acommittee of three was appointed to confer with Feuardent. It is quitenatural that we should ask at this point why the Society did not snatchup the generous offer. A number of factors come into consideration inanswering that question. It is evident from the minutes that manymembers of the organization, and particularly Wood who was Li-brarian, felt that it was possible to remain in Mott Memorial Hall andthat a removal to 30 Lafayette Place would not be permanent. In factalmost a year had passed since the first hint had been given and no stepshad been taken by the Trustees of Mott Memorial Hall to force sucha move.In the light of this situation, a special meeting of the Society was

called for June 6th, at City College to discuss the various proposals andto take action. Feuardent's offer of a "second floor back room withperfect liberty of access to the members at all times and free of expense"was presented to the group assembled at the City College. Doubts wereexpressed concerning the Society's liability for the rent at Mott Me-morial Hall in the event of a move, and a committee was appointedto confer with Dr. Mott on that subject. The same committee, pro-

vided they could arrive at a suitable settlement with Dr. Mott, weredirected "to send out notices for a meeting of the Society on June 13th



1873-1883 75and to state in the notices for the meeting the object of it and requesta reply if the member is unable to be present."In the interval between the meetings a member of the committee,the Rev. George C. Athole, visited the room offered by Feuardent. At30 Lafayette Street Rev. Athole was led up a flight of stairs to the

back room. In his description he says, "It will answer our purposewell, and at slight expense could be made a comfortable, cheerful room.It measures about 25 X15 ft., has a high ceiling, is well lighted, has anopen fireplace with grate, and two gas brackets (wall) suitable for bed-room use. The floor is even, being made of narrow planking. Topaint the same in alternate strips, two coats of paint would cost about$10.00, to cover it with China matting would cost complete $7.50, and

to cover it with good ingrain carpet would cost about $35.00." It wasalso evident that a coat of white wash was required, but that was nota pressing matter.9Dr. A. B. Mott had also answered the queries regarding the rentsettlement. He pointed out that the Society had rented the room bythe year and that on more than one occasion the rent had been paidin semi-annual or even annual installments. Since no notice of theremoval of the Society had been given prior to the expiration of thelast year's lease on June 3, 1879, the Trustees of Mott Memorial Hallhad "naturally concluded" that the organization would remain as atenant and had therefore taken no steps towards renting the premises.In addition, Dr. Mott indicated that the Trustees had planned a seriesof repairs for the coming summer, but he was not certain that theserepairs would be sufficient to satisfy the members. He suggested thatif any specific repairs were desired, the Society should tell him about

them and he would place the matter before the Trustees.10At the Executive Committee meeting on June 13th, held at theCity College, Dr. Mott's position was fully explained by Parish andPoillon who had spoken to him. If the Society desired to give up theroom it was then occupying, it could do so by paying a half year's rent.Wood, as has been said, opposed the change because he did not think that it would be permanent. The Secretary was then directed to have

printed notices sent out calling for a special meeting of the Society, tobe held on June 2oth at the City College at 8 P.M. It was necessary



76 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTthat a decision be taken without delay regarding the propriety of moving to 30 Lafayette Place. Those who were unable to come wererequested to state their opinions in writing.The special meeting of June 2oth must have been well attended; atits opening the Secretary mentioned the receipt of seven letters favor-

ing the move, and the membership rolls at the Annual Meeting of 1879 showed a roster of thirty-six life and resident members.11 A moveto 30 Lafayette Place was unanimously approved provided Feuardentagreed to receive a reasonable compensation for the use of the premises.Wood had evidently changed his mind and now supported the move.Betts, Wood, Lawrence, and Dodd were appointed a committee totake charge. By October the move was completed, but it must be said

that the generosity of Wood and Lawrence aided greatly in coveringthe costs. These charges had exceeded the $100 limit that had beengranted to the committee, but the members of that group had contri-buted the amount of the deficit. November's meetings were held at thenew room and a rule was adopted "That the use of tobacco in any formbe prohibited at all times in this room, and that a notice to that effectbe posted conspicuously." Rent was set at the purely nominal figure$100 per annum because that was all that Feuardent was willing toaccept. Furnishings were purchased and donated, and the year 1880passed with the Society safely ensconced in its new quarters.Wood, however, was to prove prophetic in the long run because inApril of 1881, the Executive Committee took cognizance of the possi-bility of another move being required. Apparently Feuardent's leaseon the property was about to expire, and a renewal was not expected.The very next month brought matters to a head and all of the Society's

possessions were packed, but there was no possibility of securing newaccommodations on such short notice. In January, Poillon notified theExecutive Committee that he had seen a room at the New York Uni-versity building which could be had for $250 per annum, with anallowance of fifty dollars for repairs. A special meeting of the ExecutiveCommittee was held on February 13th, and it was decided to makethe move after a letter was read from Vice-President Zabriskie offering

to contribute towards the repair of the room. Another letter from Woodwas also read in which he stated that "he had seen the room and thought



1873-1883 77it a big mistake." In this instance he was in the minority and 1883found the Society's home in the New York University building, a gothicwhite freestone structure on Washington Square.Even though the years from 1873 to 1884 were somewhat troubledby problems of constitutional change and quarters for the Society,

they were also years of growth and increased activity. At the AnnualMeeting of 1876, it was reported that the membership of the organi-zation consisted of fourteen honorary, fifty-four corresponding, and thir-ty-four resident members. At the end of this period the list of residentmembers had grown by three hundred percent.A constant pruning of the dead wood from this stock, and of thosefound unworthy, was consistently carried out. The example of Robert

Downing should be sufficient to indicate that the Society took greatinterest in its members. Downing had apparently become a correspondingmember in February 1868, but nothing more had been heard abouthim. Wood, with his usual show of energy, instituted inquiries in Cin-cinnati which was Downing's last known address. The answers hereceived indicated that Downing was, to say the least, a man with aclouded reputation. It was suggested that Downing, a dealer in secondhand books and old coins, had "lit" out and "was regarded as anunscrupulous man, void of any business reputation." Another reportcontained notice of a rumor to the effect that Downing had been sentto the workhouse.12 The Executive Committee then decided that sinceDowning was no credit to the Society his name should be stricken fromthe roll.In the very next year, 1878, a step of great significance with respectto the future membership policy of the organization was taken. Mrs.

Sarah Bowne Wood was admitted to the Society as a resident life mem-ber. No particular notice appears to have been taken at the time thatMrs. Wood was the first lady to enter these hitherto male precincts, butthe fact that she was the wife of Isaac F. Wood must have played a partin influencing the group's decision.Hand in hand with the increase in the membership of the Societywent a consciousness of the importance of symbols of such status. In

January 1875, Betts ascertained that the plate for the Certificate andthe papers relating to it were in the possession of an assignee in bank-



78 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTruptcy. The Society itself had never defaulted, so it must be assumedthat this was a reference to the bankruptcy of the maker of the plate.Accordingly, Poillon visited with the assignee, a gentleman by thename of Nassau, but he was unable to get anything but promises todeliver the plate. There the matter stood when at an Executive Com-

mittee meeting in November 1875, Wood suggested that the Societyshould adopt a membership medal, the reverse of which would be theseal of the organization. The costs for producing the dies, accordingto Lovett, would not be over $75.00, and George H. Lovett proposedto become a life member by advancing a part of that sum so the actualcost to the Society would be about $45.00. It was suggested that themedals be struck in gold, silver, and bronze with prices of $50.00,

$5.00, and $1.50 respectively. A design had not yet been selected, andthe Executive Committee appointed Anthon and Wood a committeeof two to take charge of the medal. At the Annual Meeting of 1876, thedesigns were submitted and explained by Wood, and the ExecutiveCommittee recommended that the dies be ordered from George H.Lovett. At the same time they stated their intention not to allow theSociety to suffer any loss on account of the medal. The experiencegained in the production of the Lincoln medal was now provingvaluable.At the Executive Committee meeting held on March 23, 1876, theSecretary was requested to notify all members of their opportunity tosubscribe for the cost of the dies. It was also decided that the price for the medals to members not subscribing to the cost of the dies would beslightly higher than to the members who did subscribe.Two dies were made of the reverse because the first one was rejected

and later destroyed. The final dies were probably ready during thespring of 1876, and some impressions in tin were submitted to theExecutive Committee in October of that year. Those specimens werefound to be completely satisfactory, and provisions were made for selling them to the members. There was some difference of opinionwith Lovett regarding the price for the silver medals, but that seemsto have been amicably settled, and the medal must have been a success.

At a special meeting of the Executive Committee on October 1, 1879,Wood reported the existence of a small deficit, but by January 20,



1873-1883 791880, his report to the regular meeting indicated that forty-four mem-bership medals had been sold. Since the total membership of theSociety was given at the Annual Meeting of 1880, as forty-two life andresident members, fifty-eight corresponding members, and fifteen ho-norary members, the response to the striking of the medal was quite

good.The form of the medal itself was quite pleasing. A circle enclosedthree oak leaves beneath a scroll which contained the motto of theSociety. The name of the organization ran along the outer circle andwas separated by an acorn at either end of the name from the wordsMEMBER'S MEDAL. On the reverse there was an oak wreath with athunderbolt set in it vertically at the top and a ribbon at the bottominclosing a blank for the name and date of membership, and around

the wreath were the words FOUNDED AT NEW YORK MDCCCLVIII, above,and INCORPD MDCCCLXV, below. The diameter of the piece was42 mm. Copies of the rejected reverse still exist, but they differ fromthe accepted version solely in the fact that the wreath rests upon araised band.13Happily just at the moment when the membership medal made itsappearance in 1876, Poillon managed to recover the membershipplate.14 It was altered by the removal of the line for the signature of the

Corresponding Secretary because that office had been eliminated inthe new Constitution. Certificates of membership were printed, andtogether with the medal they provided a new set of symbols for theSociety.The twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Society happenedto coincide with the year in which the membership medal was struck.Due note was taken of the event by the appointment of a committeeof three in January 1878, to report "whether and in what manner to

celebrate" the event. This committee, which was apparently headedby Oliver, merely suggested that a medal be issued to commemoratethe two decades since the founding of the Society.15 When this pro-posal was put before the members at the Annual Meeting on March 19,1878, it was decided that such a medallic commemorative would bemore appropriate in celebration of the quarter century mark. In 1883Wood revived the idea of such a medal and noted that he had origi-



8o PROGRESS AND CONFLICTnally suggested it five years earlier.16 Once again, however, the eventwas permitted to pass without specific notice of any sort.In 1878, at the Annual Meeting, President Anthon received re-cognition for his efforts on behalf of the Society when a gold medal of membership was presented to him by his colleagues. The duty of mak-ing the presentation address fell on Wood, who was absent from the

meeting. Benjamin Betts was hurriedly called upon to perform thehonors for the group and, despite his protestations in a letter writtenthe next day, did a very creditable job. The letter itself is worthy of being quoted in full because the minutes were evidently corrected soas to conform to the intentions of the speaker.William Poillon, Esq.Dear Sir,You may perhaps imagine my feelings last evening, when called upon at a moment'snotice to perform a task, I should at any time have shrunk from even with ample time

for preparation:â€”you can believe that my thoughts were busy with anathemas for the gentleman, whose absence on what should have been an interesting occasion,forced me in a measure into a position from which I would have assuredly escapedhad any means of so doing presented themselves to my mind. Of course it is alwayseasy to see what ought to have been done when it is quite too late, and this occasionis no exception to the rule.â€”It is plainly apparent to my mind now, that the rightthing to do was to have quietly adjourned and had a Special Meeting called for thepurpose.â€”As however the thing was blundered through I think it very necessarythat some expression of the feeling that prompted the gift, should have a place in the

report of our proceedings and should be in some way spread upon the minutesimmediately preceding the presentation (such as it was)â€”namelyâ€”"That themembers of this Society having for a long time been aware of the many obligationsthey are under to their worthy President, whose efforts for their instruction andentertainment, have been so untiring and continuous; and ungrudgingly given; andbeing now desirous of manifesting in some suitable manner, their appreciation of hisservices, have determined to present him with a slight testimonial of their regard. Inaccordance with this determination they have had prepared from the Society's diesa Membership Medal in Gold suitably inscribed to be presented to him in the name

and on behalf of the Society, as a token of their affection and esteem." This wouldtake the place of something which "might have been" spoken on the occasion (but wasnot) and would in some measure save the report of the proceedings from what willotherwise appear "flat, stale" and uninteresting. This might be followed up bysaying that Mr.â€”or the gentleman who was to have been present, and made thepresentation address on the occasion, being absent that duty devolved upon a sub-





82 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTcerted action be taken by the various numismatic societies to call thepractice to the attention of the government. Four days later, at a regu-lar meeting of the Society, Wood was appointed a committee of oneto carry out his proposal.In December, a letter from the Boston Numismatic Society requested

the aid and co-operation of the New York group in contacting officialsin Washington about the matter of pattern pieces. The Secretary wasimmediately requested to communicate with the Boston society to secureuniformity of action.20 Agreement was quickly reached during Janu-ary of 1879 for joint action, and a month later the Numismatic andAntiquarian Society of Philadelphia, at its own request, joined theother two groups.21

The stage was now set for action, but on March 1, 1879, JamesPollack, the superintendent of the United States Mint in Philadelphia,resigned and Colonel A. Louden Snowden was appointed to succeedhim.22 In view of this change at the highest level, the Philadelphiasociety communicated its view that further developments should beawaited before any action was taken.23 Apparently there existed arecognized legal right for all incorporated numismatic societies in thecountry to purchase pieces from the mint for the value of the metal,and it was the denial of this privilege by Superintendent Pollack whichcaused all the difficulty. The new superintendent reverted to the proper practice, and in September 1879 issued a circular which fulfilled thedemands of the numismatic societies.This display of strength and unity, and the success which accom-panied it, led to a more active intervention in the affairs of the Mintand the legislature. In 1880-81 the sale of assay medals and the dis-

position of metric sets of coins by the Mint came to the attention of the Society. In both cases the procedures favored by the Society seemto have been adopted. At about the same time, a bill was brought upin the House of Representatives which provided for the duty freeadmission of classical antiquities to this country. It passed the Houseon January 14, 1880, and was introduced in the Senate on the follow-ing day. On March 9th, the Senate Committee on Finance favorably

reported the bill, but after a delay of about two weeks, Senator Kirk-wood of Iowa presented an amendment which would have exempted



1873-1883 83from all duty imported salt used in the curing of fish. The bill in itsoriginal form had the support of all the educational institutions of thecountry, but Senator Kirkwood's amendment was designed to secureits defeat. The New York Times attacked Sen. Kirkwood on April 20th,and on the same day the Society passed a resolution, later forwarded

to both houses of Congress, deploring the amendment.24 Gaston L.Feuardent who had become one of the most prominent and respectedmembers of the Society pointed out that the bill was of vital impor-tance to him. He even went to Washington on the evening of April 2othto fight for its passage, so that he was unable to read a paper which hadbeen scheduled for the Society's meeting on that date.25 This may wellhave been the immediate cause for the resolution favoring the bill,passed by the Society at that meeting.

It was also in 1880 that Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk which standsin Central Park in New York City, was brought to this country. Someprominent New York residents undertook to strike a medal commem-orating the event. The design for that medal was prepared by CharlesOsborne and Gaston L. Feuardent, who displayed it to the Society atthe meeting on the evening of December 21, 1880. Approval of thedesign was rapidly forthcoming. It was a suitable occasion for an ex-pression of that approval, for Commander Henry H. Gorringe, who

had led the expedition which brought the obelisk from Egypt, waspresent.26 Only one month before, on November 16th, Feuardent hadadded greatly to the prestige of the Society by proposing Gorringe for membership. At that moment Gorringe was being lionized in the city,and his fame was widespread throughout the nation. It was quite asignal success to have interested Gorringe in numismatic matters, andat the meeting of December 21st Feuardent exhibited several specimensfrom the cabinet of Commander Gorringe, and read a brief descriptive

paper about them. The most cordial relations were thus establishedbetween the new member and the older participants in the work of theSociety. The meeting of January 18,1881, was devoted to a reading of apaper by Feuardent on The Bronze Crabs of the Obelisk. The Society de-cided to publish this paper prior to the ceremonies of the presentationof the obelisk to the city. Much was made of the connection establishedwith the obelisk through the name of Commander Gorringe. The result6*



84 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTwas that the Committee in charge of the preparations for the officialpresentation extended an invitation to Professor Anthon and to theentire membership of the Society to attend the ceremonies as a body.27Aside from the presentation of the Lincoln commemorative medalto President Johnson, this appears to have been the only public cere-

mony of note in which the Society participated during these earlyyears. In this instance, however, the part played by the Society andparticularly by one of its illustrious members was given prominence.Robert Hewitt,Jr., began collecting memorabilia relating to the obelisk;and one year later, after he had framed the medals, photographs, andother objects in his collection, he donated them in his own name andin the name of the Society, to the New-York Historical Society and the

American Geographical Society. The entire tale of the connection of the Society with the erection of the obelisk in Central Park broughtfavorable publicity to the group.In 1882, the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York pro-posed to erect a statue to George Washington, to stand in front of theU.S. Sub-Treasury on Wall Street in lower Manhattan. Royal Phelpswas apparently the chairman of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce which was dealing with this matter. On January 17, 1882,the Society intervened by requesting Hewitt to communicate to Phelpsthe suggestion that such an event should be commemorated by amedal. An offer was made on behalf of the Society to co-operate fullyin the preparation of such a medal, and the Chamber of Commercewas not slow to take up the offer. The result was the striking of abeautiful piece in 1883, to commemorate the centennial anniversaryof the evacuation of New York by the British. The observe type is a

representation of the statue which now stands in front of the Sub-Treasury; the reverse contains commemorative inscriptions and theseals of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and onthe left the seal of the City of New York, while on the right is theseal of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society.28Perhaps the most intriguing of the events of this ten year period in-volved a conflict between General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the Direc-

tor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Gaston L. Feuardent,who, it will be recalled, was one of the Society's most prominent



1873-1883 85members. This dispute arose over Feuardent's charges that the objectsof the Cesnola collection had been tampered with, and the reports of their discovery falsified. Cesnola countered with charges of dishonestyleveled at his opponent. Such a quarrel between the leading figures of two learned institutions could not proceed in a vacuum, and indeed,

it was not long before other members of the scholarly fraternity weredeeply involved and the institutions were at odds with each other.Immediately after the Civil War, Luigi di Cesnola was appointedUnited States Consul to Cyprus, where he became interested in archae-ological investigation.29 He was granted permission by the Sultan of Turkey to undertake excavations, and he dug with enthusiasm atIdalium, Salamis, Citium, and Golgoi. In 1873 Cesnola returned to the

United States and disposed of his collection by sale to the newlyestablished Metropolitan Museum of Art. Upon his return to Cyprushe continued his investigations, and in 1875 he excavated the ruins of Paphos, Amathus and Curium. The results of those excavations werealso sold to the Metropolitan Museum, and the total number of objectsrecovered was now forty thousand. In 1877 the United States Consu-late on Cyprus was closed. Cesnola now returned to this country andwas appointed Director of the Metropolitan Museum. He devoted hisfirst year to the preparation of his great work, Cyprus, Its Ancient Cities,Tombs and Temples, which was published in 1878. The merit of his work received universal recognition. Both Columbia and Princeton con-ferred upon him the degree of LL.D. and the Royal Society of London,as well as the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, elected Cesnola asan honorary member. Other groups followed suit, and Victor Emma-nuel II, King of Italy, and the King of Bavaria bestowed upon him

knightly orders and decorations. The next King of Italy, Umberto,had a gold medal issued in honor of Cesnola's work.Cesnola's opponent in this dispute was Gaston L. Feuardent, whowas also a man of great distinction. He was born in France in 1843and inherited his interest in numismatics and antiquities from hisfather, Felix Feuardent, an art dealer and numismatist in Paris, as wellas from his grandfather. Nothing was more natural than that he should

enter his father's business where he advanced so rapidly that at the ageof twenty-five he was given the responsibility of opening a branch



86 PROGRESS AND CONFLICThouse in London. He achieved a reputation as an expert quite earlyin life and was recognized by the British Museum. While still in Londonhis path crossed that of Cesnola when he acted as an agent for theGeneral in the sale of his Cypriote collection to the MetropolitanMuseum of Art. In 1876 Feuardent came to New York to establish a

branch of the renowned Parisian firm of Rollin and Feuardent. Short-ly after his arrival here he was elected as a member of the Society, andhe became quite active, serving as Curator of Archaeology from 1885to 1888.30When the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870, andwhen in 1873, it moved to more spacious quarters in the DouglasMansion, 128 East 14th Street, the cultured residents of the City

rejoiced. In 1874 the building of its present home on Fifth Avenuenorth of 79th Street was begun, and a special note of the plan for thebuilding and encouragement for the proposal was published in theAmerican Journal of Numismatics?1 Even at that early date the purchaseof the first part of the Cesnola Collection had been concluded. Thevalue of the collection was placed in the vicinity of $200,000, but itwas sold as a whole to the Metropolitan for $50,000. Feuardent hadhandled much of the transaction for Cesnola, and it seems that theBritish Museum and the Louvre had both put in bids. 32 It is thusapparent that relations between Feuardent and Cesnola were veryharmonious at that time. Relations between the Society and the newMetropolitan Museum of Art were also close as shown by the nego-tiations for a display of a part of the Society's collection. These nego-tiations were eventually permitted to lapse by the Society becauseit felt that its collection was not large enough to warrant such treat-

ment, but relations with the museum remained friendly. It shouldtherefore occasion no surprise that when the second and third lots of the Cesnola Collection appeared on the market in 1876, Isaac F. Woodwas specifically requested to aid in having the Museum purchase them.33This effort was completely successful and not only was the collectionpurchased, but shortly afterward Cesnola himself was appointed thefirst Director of the Metropolitan Museum. In the meantime his book

on his excavations had appeared and Feuardent had migrated toAmerica and joined the Society. Once here Feuardent resumed his



1873-1883 87scholarly work and in March 1878, at the Annual Meeting, two of hispapers on the Cesnola Collection and the De Morgan Collection wereread before the Society.34 In these papers, Feuardent discussed somerather trivial scholarly problems, but he had only praise for the work of Cesnola and for the collection. No aspersions whatsoever were cast

upon the authenticity of any part of it. At the Annual Meeting of 1879,Feuardent read still another paper dealing with material from thepublications of Cesnola, and once again he does not seem to havesuspected that any of it was questionable.35Feuardent apparently published a number of articles on the CesnolaCollection in various popular journals before he became aware thatthere was something seriously amiss. But, in an article published in the

Art Amateur in August of 1880, Feuardent publicly voiced his doubtsabout the collection. Statements made at different times by Cesnola,were very shortly seen to be in conflict with one another. Cesnola hadstated in his book that the statue of Aphrodite and Eros was found atGolgoi, but he later asserted that it was already in New York, whenthe first Cesnola collection was in London. Feuardent had acceptedCesnola's statement that "no unmistakable Venus had been found atGolgoi," and he was therefore faced by the problem of reconciling twocontradictory statements. As he studied the problem it occurred tohim that perhaps this was more than a simple slip or error. It did indeedseem possible to him that the Cesnola report of the excavations, andthe strange pieces of sculpture which he had recovered, were part of a gigantic hoax or fraud perpetrated at the expense of serious scholarsthroughout the world, but particularly against the Trustees of theMetropolitan Museum. Further study and comparison of many photo-

graphs taken at various times showed conclusively that some of thestatuary had been tampered with as well and changed in its essentialcharacter.36 Feuardent felt that it was his duty to lay this before thepublic.General Cesnola, of course, was not slow to answer these charges.First he rejected the accusations as groundless, and then in a communi-cation of his own to the Executive Committee of the Metropolitan

Museum of Art, he accused Feuardent of dishonesty.37 Now the publicjournals took up the dispute, and charges and countercharges flew



88 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTthick and fast between the disputants. Feuardent wrote to the Com-mittee of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and requestedthat since they had heard and accepted Cesnola's charges, they shouldalso hear the evidence supporting Feuardent. To forward this claimto a hearing, Feuardent published his answer by printing side by

side the charges made by Cesnola and extracts from the correspon-dence between them.38 Cesnola's charges were of a most serious nature.According to the information given out by the Director of the Metro-politan Museum, Feuardent was virtually a cheat and a scoundrel.Feuardent's published answer was hardly sufficient to put such accu-sations to rest.The Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art had al-

ready met, on February 21, 1881, to judge the validity of the chargesoriginally made by Feuardent. They passed a resolution stating thatthey had "always known the falsehood of the published (Feuardent's)charges," and had "never ceased to entertain the highest confidencein his (Cesnola's) devotion and faithfulness to the interests, not aloneof the Museum, but of truth and scholarship, and history."By the terms of that resolution Cesnola was completely vindicatedand Feuardent's name was blackened. This step on the part of theTrustees was taken before Feuardent had presented his case, and in aletter to the New York Times of March 17, 1881, he protested that theCommittee appointed to examine the evidence had been imposed uponby Cesnola.39 Public opinion was deeply divided. Clarence Cook, anart critic and later editor of The Studio, wrote a competent study of some of the pieces of sculpture which formed a part of the CesnolaCollection. From the writings of Cesnola himself, and from other docu-

ments including photographs and descriptions given by other notedauthorities, he proved quite conclusively that the statuary belongingto the Cesnola Collection was largely made up of unrelated fragmentswhich were in many cases retouched; that this retouching caused thefragments to lose any scientific value which they might once have had;that no confidence could be placed in Cesnola's assertions as to wherehe had discovered the pieces; that the Collection, as a result of the

recutting of certain surfaces and the retouching, was likely to be asource of error and trouble.40 Cook also quoted some correspondence



1873-1883 89from Cesnola to himself which was highly compromising as far as theDirector of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was concerned. All thismaterial was published by Feuardent and seems to have made quitean impression. Not all were convinced by this display, however, andthe Evening Post of April 14, 1881, published an editorial highly critical

of Feuardent, calling him a Mephitis Americana and consigning to Cook the pleasure of consorting with him while others avoided his company.The editorial pointed out that if Feuardent were now to give up thefight he would be lost, and it therefore warned the public that it was amatter of life or death with him to pervert honest men and respectablejournals to his purpose.Feuardent was not lacking in his answer. He published a series of so-

called cards, which contained photographs of the statuary of the Ces-nola Collection, showing what it had originally been and what changeshad been made by recutting and other procedures. This was certainlymost incriminating and effective evidence. The Nation of May 12, 1881,took note of the existence of these cards and pointed out the seriousnessof the evidence. The editors wrote, "We have said this card is one of aseries, and the Director and Trustees of the Museum and the ExaminingCommittee ought not to suffer another to appear before vindicatingtrustworthiness of the collection by an adequate explanation of theexistence of these photographs." The New York Times of May 14, 1881,supported a similar view, and declared, "Even the Trustees of theMetropolitan Museum of Art must see by this time that the policy of 'silent contempt' adopted by them in regard to the charges againsttheir Director, can only have the result of making themselves contempt-ible." The Times published on that day an indictment written by

Feuardent of the antiquities of the Cesnola Collection and demandedthat thejTrustees reopen the case and examine the matter fully andopenly.But all this, though of great general interest, would be of no concernto the Society save for the fact that Feuardent himself was one of itsmost prominent members, and charges against him reflected upon themen associated with him. As a result, on a motion by Professor Anthon

at the meeting of May 17, 1881, the Secretary was directed to write tothe Principal Librarian of the British Museum "calling his attention



9o PROGRESS AND CONFLICTto the public charges regarding the character of our fellow member Gaston L. Feuardent and desiring to know officially if he enjoys theconfidence of the authorities of the British Museum."41 Answers werenot long in forthcoming. C. T. Newton, Keeper of the Departmentof Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum, and ReginaldStuart Poole, Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals, both

wrote letters stating that they had every reason to be satisfied withFeuardent's capacity and honesty.42Public confidence was somewhat shaken by the publication of Feuardent's cards and by the answer which he published even beforethe receipt of these letters. The American Art Review of May 1881 pointedout how regrettable it was that the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the"Foremost art institution in the country," should be involved in sucha controversy, but it also noted that Feuardent had provided material"for a first-class libel suit" in his published answer, and the public

might well be unwilling to approve appropriations for the enlargementof the Museum unless the Trustees saw fit to quiet such disturbingevidence once and for all. The Art Amateur of June 1881 was even moredecisive and emphatic. Its columns contained a virtual approval of Feuardent's position which had first been presented in that journal:How long, we wonder, will the Trustees of the Museum consent to pull thechestnuts out of the fire for their disingenuous Director? It would seem incredible,if we did not know it to be true, that honorable gentlemen should silently assentto the disreputable practices that disgrace the Museum. Almost under their very

eyes alterations are being made in objects in the Cesnola collection, in the hopelessendeavor to disprove Mr. Feuardent's charges in The Art Amateur. Fortunately for the interest of truth, various photographs of the objects in dispute, taken at varioustimes, are coming to light to the confusion of the shameless attempts at falsification.We have never doubted that the American spirit of fairness would eventually secureMr. Feuardent's vindication, and the disgrace of his unprincipled assailants. Thetime for this, we believe, is near at hand.It is evident from these notices that Feuardent and his friends, in-cluding his colleagues in the American Numismatic and Archaeolo-

gical Society, were now pressing their position with determination andwith good effect. Richard Hoe Lawrence suggested that the correspon-dence with the British Museum should be published in the next issue



1873-1883 91of the Annual Proceedings, a view which was supported by Professor Anthon. Feuardent noted the possibility that it might well be too latefor such a proccedure and offered to have them published privately.43Apparently the Proceedings had already gone to press, but the report of the meeting of the Society on November 15,1881, published the followingday in the New York Times, made specific mention of the support given

to Feuardent by the corespondence from the British Museum.Cesnola had cast clear aspersions of dishonesty at Feuardent inconducting the negotiations for the sale of his collection. This is whathad brought the Society into the matter. It was essential that thesecharges be disproved, and Feuardent took cognizance of them him-self by writing to his bankers in England. The answer he received fullysupported his position and showed his absolute honesty.44 Feuardentnow resorted to the courts to secure vindication by pressing a libelaction against Cesnola. At the same time he felt compelled to address a

statement to the Society indicating his position. In that statement hesaid:I believed that in addressing myself to the Courts of Justice I could procure aspeedy vindication of my character which had been publicly attacked by Mr.Cesnola; but by taking advantage of one of the numerous technicalities of the lawby which at the eleventh hour he was enabled to remove the case to another court,he has succeeded in postponing for an indefinite period the hearing of the action.In the meantime I consider that I owe it to my fellow-members of the Society tostate most positively that the accusations made against me are without the least

foundation, and to say that I am ready to submit to the inspection of any member documentary evidence proving conclusively that all the charges made by Mr. diCesnola are false, and that he knows them to be so. In relation to the principalaccusationâ€”that of extorting money by receiving from Mr. J. S. Morgan, Americanbanker in London, who was acting for Mr. John Taylor Johnston, a sum of $ 13,000as payment against my bill against the first Cesnola collection, a sum that Mr. Cesnolasays he "regarded as an exorbitant (sic) amount" I beg to submit to you a letter from one of the partners of the banking-house of Frederick Burt & Co. 7r-72 Cornhill,London, which explains that the check drawn by Mr. Morgan was altogether for

Â£ 2,800; that it was cashed by them, and that only Â£ 1400 were put to my creditwhile Mr. Cesnola was creditied with the rest of the amount. With this sum heopened his banking account with that firm. I leave it to you, gentlemen, to judgewhether Mr. Cesnola can possibly have forgotten the receiving of Â£ 1400, and todecide for yourselves what value should be attached to his accusations.



92 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTThe issue was fairly joined in the courts, but other factors than themere correctness of Feuardent's assertions and the falsity of the chargeslevelled at him were to play a part in the decision there. The caseitself ended without a clear cut decision when it was presented to a jury.As a later student of the affair noted, the results were necessarily inde-cisive in this case which "on account of its having the appearance of a

personal difference between the parties, prejudiced all the importantissues, and by referring to an ordinary jury, matters which could bedetermined only by a jury of experts, failed to throw any light on thequestion; nevertheless, this trial did bring to light certain facts whichto the archaeological world must be convincing."45The legal ruses employed by Cesnola to delay the processes of thetrial were quite transparent, and the testimony offered confirmed thestand taken by Feuardent. The public quickly became aware of thesituation because of the newspapers. The New York Times of March 15,

1882, carried an editorial saying:The time seems to be at hand when the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museumof Art would brace themselves for another effort, and this time an honest and resoluteone, to discover just how much there is in the accumulated charges against Gen. diCesnola. They have not been particularly successful in silencing Mr. Feuardent, andsince his charges have been reinforced by those of the late Assistant Director,Mr.Savage,sustained by the photographer, Mr. Cox, emphasized by one of the "restorers,"Mr. Gehlen, and amplified by a small literature of illustrative cards, pamphlets, andcommunications to the press, the Trustees owe it to their reputation as honorable

men, as well as to the usefulness of the institution they represent, that neither theyor it should be identified with imposture. The 'silent contempt' policy has beenpursued too long. Mr. di Cesnola has been offered a chance to vindicate his aspersedcharacter in the courts, but has done his best to place the ordeal as far off as possible.The Trustees may, presumably think, in the light of recent revelations, that their own character for fairness and honesty cannot so easily wait for vindication.The Society itself strove manfully on Feuardent's behalf. Thepublished notice of the Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting in the NewYork Times of March 29, 1882, contained a long quotation from the

letters received by Feuardent from his bankers in England showing thefalseness of the charges of dishonesty against him. The report in theTimes also noted that the Society had decided to publish its correspon-



1873-1883 93dence with the authorities of the British Museum regarding Feuardentin the annual report and went on to say, "The members of the Societywere unanimous in their desire publicly to vindicate Mr. Feuardent'sreputation for honesty." Feuardent had submitted the last letters fromhis bankers to the Society during the very month of the Annual Meet-

ing.46 Of course, the Society carried out its intention to publish thecorrespondence that had passed between it and the British Museumin the Proceedings of the organization at the Annual Meeting in 1882.The Society had taken a firm stand in support of Feuardent, but theindecisiveness of the legal proceedings left room for embarrassing com-ments on the part of others. There were bound to be incidents, andone such affair took place during the Annual Meeting of the Society in

1883, when Algernon S. Sullivan, a prominent member of the organi-zation, delivered an address and included a statement which said,"In this, our public meeting, and with unstinted admiration, we areglad to pay tribute to the valuable treasures in the Metropolitan Mu-seum of Art which are the splendid discoveries of our fellow citizen,General Luigi di Cesnola. His collection awakened new and worldwide interest in Archaeology, and as it is more carefully examined andstudied, it becomes more and more firmly established in the estimationof enlightened students. It represents, not spoliation, but the releasefrom tens of thousands of tombs of the missives and records of thepeople who ruled in Asia and in Europe three thousand years ago.With painstaking purpose they deposited their message to be resurrect-ed after the lapse of thirty centuries and we have that message herewith us in New York. Thanks to the labor and zeal of General Di Ces-nola."47 Unfortunately, notice of these remarks was transmitted to the

local press, and the next day, March 21st, when the Daily Tribune andthe Evening Post appeared, they contained summaries of the events of the meeting which included note of the praise given to Cesnola. Happi-ly the World, the Morning Journal and the Herald reported the meetingbut omitted any reference to Cesnola. Still, the publication of thisnews in two of the local newspapers was sufficient to cause a reactionamong the members. Cyrus Lawrence, who had read the account in

the Evening Post, immediately wrote to Poillon about this complimentpaid to Cesnola. "If such was the fact I certainly consider it an insult



94 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTto the Society and to some of its most esteemed members. One of whomat least, Mr. Gaston L. Feuardent, has the right to claim protection,especially just at this time, to the extent at least, of the exclusion of anything in the nature of an endorsement of his defamer, such as wouldnaturally be implied was accorded him, by the admission of such a

paper among the archives of the Society."48 He went on to demand thatthe Society issue a public statement denying it, if the account in theEvening Post was incorrect. Poillon, of course, hastened to calm anyfear that Feuardent might have had on that score. In a letter to him hesaid, "The reference made by Mr. Sullivan to our adversary, in de-livering his address at our Annual Meeting, I have reason to believewas entirely unintentional. You may rest assured nothing will be in the

minutes of the Proceedings which will annoy any of us."49 Poillon wasas good as his word, for the manuscript of the address was submittedto Robert Hewitt, Jr., who made the necessary corrections and emen-dations to cut out the reference to Cesnola. As published in the Pro-ceedings with its teeth removed the speech was quite innocuous.50Time, however, did nothing to heal the breach between the litigants,Feuardent and Cesnola, but it did create problems for the Society.Judge Nathaniel Shipman, who was hearing the case, was proposed for honorary membership in the Society by Richard S. Ely in January of 1884, while the trial was still in progress. In proposing him Ely wrote,"Would[it be in order for me to propose for Honorary Membership,Judge Nathaniel Shipman of the United States District Court? Hispatient attention for more than two months past (& which may con-tinue much longer) to the consideration of Foreign Archaeology mustfully qualify him." 51 The Executive Committee of the Society reacted

firmly and rejected the application. Poillon notified Ely of this fact andsaid, "In reply to your favor 8th inst. our Executive Committee do notthink it would be for the interest of our Society to have the Hon.Nathaniel Shipman's name brought forward for Honorary Member-ship at this time for the reason that it would identify us with a case yetunsettled in the Courts. Mr. Feuardent being a member of this Societyit might be the cause of unfavorable comments."52

It is apparent that while the case was in the process of adjudicationthe Society was determined to take no action that might prejudice the



1873-1883 95decision. Gaston Feuardent, however, did not give up the attack. Itwill be recalled that he had addressed the Society in 1878 about someof the identifications made in the cataloguing of the Cesnola Collection.Those identifications were made before he suspected the questionablecharacter of much of the collection. In November 1882, he read apaper before the Society in which he took up the problem once again,

and in which he stated that his work on a rare first brass of Alexander Severus had led him to discover the characteristics of Spes, the Romangoddess. The subject of his earlier paper had been the statuette iden-tified as Spes in the Cesnola Collection. Feuardent tied the two thingstogether when he said, "I expect to be able to submit to you very soonan exact report of the discoveries recently made at Idalium in Cyprus,by Herr Max Ohnefalsch Richter, in connection with the history of the representations of this divinity, Spes Vetus of the Romans. I have

no doubt that we shall be able to identify that divinity with the Aphro-dite Infernalis (Venus-Proserpina) of the Greeks, and this will help us toprove that the little statuette in the Metropolitan Museum (aboutwhich I entertained you some years ago) cannot maintain the right of holding the mirror that has been placed in its left hand since I hadthe honour of reading my paper before you."53 A full account of thisaddress was given in the New York Times on January 19th, 1884, a year and a half after it was delivered. The problem of the Cesnola Collectionwas thus kept before the public.Unfortunately, the trial of the libel suit pressed by Feuardent againstCesnola came to an end indecisively when the jury failed to agreeupon a verdict. For some reason the Trustees of the MetropolitanMuseum of Art chose to interpret this as a victory for the Director of theMetropolitan, and in a resolution to that effect they declared himvindicated. The Society felt called upon to answer, and as a result, ata special meeting on March 1, 1884, a motion was unanimously passedexpressing the belief that the Society held in the correctness of Feuar-

dent's charges:Whereas: Our fellow-member, Mr. Gaston L. Feuardent, a gentleman with awell established reputation as an expert in regard to the authenticity of objects of antiquity, seeing reason to question the genuineness of certain Cypriote sculpturesin the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and disapproving the treatment to which the



96 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTobjects in the Cypriote collection, generally, were subjected by their custodians,made his criticisms public, and thereby subjected himself to attacks upon his personalcharacter and his professional reputation; and,Whereas: In order to defend his character and in the interest of truth and justicehe was forced to carry on a law suit against one of his defamers at a heavy expendi-ture of money, and a great sacrifice of time; and

Whereas: Through his self-sacrificing efforts, the true history and character of acostly and celebrated collection of sculpture have been established, and a pernicioussystem of repairs and restorations have been thoroughly exposed; therefore be itResolved: That the evidence elicited during the course of the late trial has butheightened the favorable opinion we have always entertained respecting our fellow-member Mr. Gaston L. Feuardent, and has strengthened our confidence in hisability as an expert, his integrity of purpose, and his unselfish devotion to the truth,and we hereby express the belief that as a knowledge of Art and Archaeology is morewidely disseminated in this country, the views held by him, in common with every

archaeologist of any repute in Europe, respecting the treatment of antique objectswill be accepted here, as the only correct views, alike by scholars and by those whoshall have such objects in their custody. And be it alsoResolved: That this Society deeply regrets that it should have fallen upon Mr.Feuardent to bear alone the burden of a suit undertaken largely in the true interestand for the benefit alike of the Metropolitan Museum and of the general public. Andwe hereby tender him our thanks for his valuable services to Art and Archaeologyand assure him of our sympathy with his aims, our appreciation of his character, andour sense of his value as a member of this Society.

This resolution was not only presented to Feuardent by a Committeefrom the Society, but it was also given out to the public press and ap-peared in the New York Times of March 6, 1884. As it was disseminated,the resolution had only the character of support rendered to Feuardent.but the manuscript notes of the meeting show that there were origi-nally two more paragraphs which were inserted between the last of theintroductory statements and the first operative section. The text of thesetwo paragraphs has been recovered and it worthy of being quoted.Whereas: It appears in a recent report of the proceedings at a meeting of the Board

of Trustees of the Museum, that the result of the late trial is regarded by them as acomplete vindication of the methods employed, with their sanction, in the treat-ment of the objects forming the said Cypriote Collection; be it, therefore,Resolved: That we deem it our duty as a Society devoted to the interests of Artand Archaeology, to protest against the acceptance of such principles, and to expressour deep regret that the Trustees of the Museum should have seen fit to adopt them;



Frederick James DC Peyster Gen. J. Watts De Peyster

Membership Medal of Benjamin Betts, President (1870-1873)



The City College

Charles Henry WrightCharles E. AnthonPresident 1867, 1868-1870, 1873-1883



1873-1883 97believing as we do that such methods of treating antique objects are radicallywrong; and that the effect of the Trustee's decision will be to impair the usefulnessof the Museum as an institution of education.Apparently the members at the special meeting agreed that anydirect attack on the Metropolitan Museum would only seem to weakentheir case, and so the resolution was confined to supporting the posi-

tion taken by Feuardent. Clearly the Society was not in a position toenter the lists against the Museum, but it was prepared to go somedistance beyond merely passing resolutions in support of Feuardent.On January 2oth, 1885, William J. Stillman, artist, journalist, anddiplomat, was elected as a resident member of the Society.54 He was aman with a wide range of interests and experiences including servicein war as well as in peace. The motive for Stillman's election as a resi-dent member becomes apparent when it is noted that on the very day

of his election the following resolution was passed by the society:Resolved that in view of the importance to Archaeological truth involved in thequestion of the "provenances" and other points connected with the Cypriote Col-lection of Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and believing that it isexpedient to collate the information and evidence thus far obtained, as to the abovepoints: therefore:Resolved: That Mr. W. J. Stillman be requested as an archaeologist and member of this Society to examine the evidence and report upon the same in order to enablethe Society to decide as to the propriety of further investigation.66Stillman himself apparently spoke in support of this resolution eventhough it was his first contact with the Society, and he stated quitebaldly that in the interest of Archaeology he had paid "a great dealof attention to the matter since it was brought to his notice about threeyears ago, and that he was now able to collate and put in shape suchevidence as he could procure by a personal visit to the excavations, sothat everyone could judge as to the correctness of the charges madeagainst the genuineness of the collection. His intention being to make

his report to this Society."There can be no doubt that an ingenious plan had been evolvedwhereby Stillman was made a member of the Society so that he couldgive currency to his views. A letter written by Stillman, apparently from



98 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTRome just before he was dropped from the membership roll of theSociety, confirms that view. It seems likely that he had not paid dues,and that the Secretary had written to him to demand such payment.In response he said, "Yours of the 18th ult. is received. It was distinctlyunderstood before I left New York that my membership of the Archae-

ological Society was not intended to be permanent as Mr. Lawrencewill explain to you if you refer to him. I am a permanent resident of Rome and in any case the membership of the Society would be of noutility to anyone."56 His task completed, Stillman seems to have lostall interest in the Society.Stillman's report, however, does merit some consideration. It wasprivately printed in 1885 under the title Report of W. J. Stillman on the

Cesnola Collection. In the some thirty-three pages of closely reasonedtext, he presents a complete vindication of Feuardent and an indict-ment of Cesnola. Evidence was drawn from many sources including thetrial, on-the-spot investigations in Cyprus, various published records,and affidavits submitted by Cypriotes. Stillman's report must for allintents and purposes be considered as the last broadside fired by theSociety in defense of Feuardent, and if it is judged impartially it mustbe considered extremely effective. Neither party to the dispute hadwon a clear cut victory in the courts or in the public forums; the Metro-politan Museum stood by its champion and the Society defended itshero, but in the final analysis the weight of the evidence marshalledby the Society in support of Feuardent was considerable. It could notbe disregarded in any future consideration of the Cypriote collection.Certainly the Feuardent-Cesnola controversy was the most inter-esting event of the decade as far as the Society was concerned, because

in a sense it mirrored the passage of the Society from the realm of agroup of collectors to the status of a responsible institution with scho-larly pretensions. It is quite true that the organization could not asyet claim a universal recognition as a great institution, but it hadfought against an institution of undoubted eminence in the scholarlyworld, and it had held its ground fairly. This would have been vir-tually impossible at an earlier date. It is extremely significant that by

the quarter centennial of its existence the Society could defend itspoint of view and support the members who expressed their convictions.



1873-1883 9$This increase in the stature of the Society, of course, had its counter-part in the growth of the Society's collection and library, as well asin its contacts with other groups. To cite only a few of the featuresmarking such growth, there were the series of informal meetings of theSociety which were held to hear papers and to hold discussions with-

out dealing with business matters. These meetings began in 1880, andwere a success from the very beginning. It is also to be noted thatgroups in other places sought to follow the model of the Society. Whena new group was founded in Charleston, they had recourse to theSociety for information.57 Even the government took notice of the or-ganization; the Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior requested information regarding the Library and collection for in-clusion in a new volume devoted to listing American libraries.58 In

1877, the Publisher's Weekly inquired about the Society's publications inconnection with a catalogue of American books issued before July 1,1876.59 In actual fact, the publications of the Society were not numerousduring the period even though there were many futile negotiationswith various authors who were anxious to have their works issuedunder its auspices. Occasional papers, which were delivered in theform of addresses to the Society, and the Proceedings of the Society atits annual meetings were published regularly after 1878, but apart

from these there were no volumes issued.The library of the Society, however, grew appreciably. As early as1874, the "Doctor Isaac F. Wood Fund" of $50.00 was establishedwith the proceeds from the sale of coins donated by Wood. This moneywas to be permanently invested and the interest only applied tolibrary purposes. Steady growth resulted from judicious purchasesand gifts, so that only two years later it was found advisable to insurethe books and cases for $500.00. In 1879, Wood, the Librarian, listed

the holdings as 271 bound volumes and 1993 pamplets, unbound serials,and the like. Subscriptions were resorted to among the members toraise the funds necessary for the purchase of some expensive workssuch as Loubat's Medallic History of the United States.The numismatic and archaeological collection followed almostexactly the same course. There was a continuous increase in the hold-ings of the Society but always by a series of almost imperceptible steps.7*



100 PROGRESS AND CONFLICTThere were, to be sure, some strange and unusual gifts proffered tothe Society during this period, and some were accepted, but the generalcharacter of the development remained constant. As examples of thesegifts, one might mention an offer of the Lord's Prayer written with apen, in ninety-four different languages. This offer was rejected by the

Society. On the other hand, an oak frame containing the originalBroadside Proclamation of Queen Anne, issued in 1704, for settlingand ascertaining the current rates of foreign coin in the British coloniesin America, and an archaeological map of America with thirty mar-ginal engravings of memorable events and portraits of historical per-sonages, were accepted. Even a stone axe given by King Kalakaua of Hawaii to Gen. Charles E. Furlong was accepted, and there was an

offer of the death warrant of Charles I. These, however, were insig-nificant and in the long run they disappeared from the collection,whereas by far the greater number of gifts as well as all the purchaseswere quite prosaic coins and medals which formed the foundation for the collection to be built in later years.



OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEAS1883-1905>r a decade the fortunes of the Society had been directed by thecapable Professor Charles E. Anthon, and during that period the or-ganization attained maturity and a certain stature in the community.Public notice of its activities was more evident than before, and the

opinions and positions taken by the Society on some major issuescarried weight. In 1883 Anthon retired from his chair at the Collegeof the City of New York, and in May of that year, just two monthsafter his election to the Presidency of the Society for the twelfth time,he sailed for Europe. One month later word was received of his deathabroad. The shock to the group assembled on the evening of June 12,1883, at a special meeting for the election of new members must have

been very great when Parish arose in his capacity as First Vice-Presi-dent and announced the sad tidings. A committee was immediatelyappointed with Professor Woolf as Chairman "to make suitable ex-pression of the respect of the Society for the memory of Prof. Anthon."Woolf was the logical choice for this task because he had been a col-league of Anthon's not only in the Society but also on the faculty of theCity College.1 This Committee decided that the proper memorial tocommemorate Anthon's work would be the striking of a medal. Severalartists including Charles E. Barber, Engraver of the U.S. Mint, sub-101



102 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASmitted bids to prepare the dies. Barber's bid was apparently supportedby A. Louden Snowden, the Superintendent of the Mint, who wrotedirectly to the Society.2 The authority to choose the artist who wouldprepare the dies, however, did not rest with Woolf but with the Com-mittee.3 The response to the medal was quite gratifying because Woolf

was soon able to report that thirty-four subscriptions had been re-ceived from members of the Society and that ten faculty members of the City College had also indicated a desire to subscribe. Lea Ahlbornof the Swedish Mint had submitted an estimate to strike 1 oo medalsin bronze, and a subscription price of $5.00 for each impression inbronze was set for the members of the Society.Under Woolf's guidance the work of the Committee seems to have

progressed very slowly, perhaps as a result of the poor health of itschairman.4 By the end of April there was as yet no decision as to whowas to prepare the dies for the medal, and Barber submitted somesamples for the examination of the Committee.5 Poillon, Hewitt, Betts,and Low seem to have accepted much of the responsibility for thememorial during Woolf's illness. At a meeting of these men with Pre-sident Parish on May 9, 1884, it was decided to accept a bid fromMadame Lea Ahlborn. In a letter dated October 31, 1883, the Swedishsculptress had offered to cut the dies for about $200.00. Since the sumof $250.00 had already been raised by subscription, the medal wasan assured success from the very beginning.6Despite the illness of Professor Woolf, the other members of the Com-mittee showed a great deal of energy, and some time in June of 1884the order was given to Lea Ahlborn to prepare the medal.7 In Novem-ber of that year, exactly twelve months after the receipt of the letter

from the Swedish sculptress, a plaster cast of the proposed medal wasdisplayed to the Society. Woolf had seen the medal abroad somewhatearlier and in a letter to Poillon he described it as "an excellent ideali-zation of our friend, and withal a sufficiently accurate portrait. For myown part I like it exceedingly as a work of art and as a precious me-mento of the dead. I believe all who can appreciate the difficulty of the task set Lea Ahlborn will be satisfied." The final report of the

Secretary of the Committee, Low, stated that "The beauty of designand execution of the relic is a matter of universal acknowledgement



1883-1905 103and the members of the Society are to be congratulated upon havingso faithful a likeness of their deceased President." Some of the members,particularly Wood, do not seem to have been completely satisfied withthe result, but it would appear as though the grounds for their dis-satisfaction were personal animosity towards individual members of the Committee rather than anything related to the medal itself.8

Once the dies were completed in March of 1885, twelve impressionsin silver as well as sixty-six in bronze were forwarded for sale. At Pro-fessor Woolf's suggestion it was ordered that when the dies had beenused to strike eighty-five impressions in bronze and fifteen in silver theyshould be cancelled and deposited in the cabinets of the Society. Al-most all the medals were subscribed for quickly, and by the end of 1886the transactions relating to this medal were completed. The piece wasvery impressive, showing on the obverse a bust of Professor Anthon,

without drapery, in profile, facing left, surrounded by the inscriptionCHARLES EDWARD ANTHON, LL.D., within a circle of beads and under the decollation the name LEA AHLBORN. The reverse was composedof the wreath of two branches of leaves, oak to the left and laurel tothe right, with the junction of the branches covered by the seal of the Society beneath which was the date 1884. The inscription withinthe wreath read BORN IN NEW YORK CITY DEC. 6, 1822. DIED AT BREMENJUNE 7, 1883. The inscription surrounding the wreath but within acircle of beads read PRESIDENT AMERICAN NUMISMATIC AND ARCHAE-OLOGICAL SOCIETY 1869-1883.9On Anthon's death, Daniel Parish, Jr., exercised the functions of thePresidency by virtue of his office as First Vice-President for the re-mainder of the year. In 1884, he was duly elected to that office in hisown right, and Andrew C. Zabriskie succeeded him as Vice-President.Zabriskie himself, as we shall see, succeeded to the Presidency in 1896,and held that office until 1905. This interval from the death of Anthonuntil 1905 forms a distinct period in the history of the Society. It is

largely a time when the fruits of the previous decade were enjoyed, andthe position of the organization was consolidated and confirmed. Therewas, of course, growth in the size and in the influence of the Society aswell as in its wealth, but there were no extraordinary gains of the typemade during Anthon's Presidency. Anthon's loss was felt very keenly;



104 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEAShe had served as more than a President to the organization, and inlarge measure the astonishing growth of the Society during his tenureof office was directly attributable to his own influence. President Par-ish was not the least of those to recognize the tremendous task whichfaced him in carrying on the office which had been so lamentably

vacated. In his very first Presidential Address on March 18, 1884,Parish noted that though it was incumbent upon him to say something"he could not be expected to present to the Society any address whichwould meet their expectations and bear comparison with the able pro-ductions of our late lamented President." He therefore confined himself to a mere statement of a few facts of general interest to the members.Anthon, however, had wrought well, and the momentum which he

had instilled into the activities of the Society continued to carry itthrough the difficult period when Parish was grasping the reins for thefirst time. The flourishing condition of the organization in 1884 couldeasily be recognized.10 The Society planned a series of exhibitions of its collection of British Museum electrotypes. In April 1884, this col-lection was displayed for one week at the Lotus Club, for another week at the Union League, and then at the New York Normal College,and the College of the City of New York, before it was placed on viewfor a longer period of time at the Cooper Institute.11 The local presstook notice of these exhibitions and in some cases described the objectsin detail. In January of the following year an exhibition was held by theBoston Art Club, and the display of many of the electrotypes in thepossession of the Society was the subject of a long article in the EveningTranscript of January 22nd.These electrotypes had came into the possession of the Society in a

most interesting fashion. At the International Electrical Exhibitionheld in Philadelphia in 1884, the Society had displayed some of theelectrotypes of the Greek and Roman series which it had already pur-chased.12 At this same exhibition. Ready and Son, the electrotypistsof the British Museum, had set out a display of other coins and medalsprepared by them as samples of their workmanship. At the end of theexhibition this particular display of the electrotypes of the British

Museum series was about to be withdrawn for return to Britain. Itcame to the attention of Carlos Carranza, then Consul-General of the



1883-1905 105Argentine Republic in New York, that this collection might be per-manently lost to the nations of the American Hemisphere. With thatin mind Carranza purchased the British display in its entirety andpresented it to the Society with the understanding that it would be per-manently used for loan purposes to schools and art groups seeking to

learn more about the subject of numismatics. As a result, this collectionbegan its circulating career and served, particularly during the years1884-1885, to enlarge the influence of the Society.At the same time the internal development of the Society was pro-ceeding apace. On November 18, 1884, David L. Walter offered aresolution stating "That a committee of three or more be appointedby the President, to consider and report at a Special Meeting, to be

called to consider their report when ready: What steps, if any, shouldbe taken to increase the usefulness of the Society; induce the membersto attend the formal and informal meetings; make use of the Society'slibrary and room; facilitate literary and numismatic intercourse be-tween the members, and generally to improve the Society and its aims,and increase the results to be achieved by its efforts." This resolutionpassed, and at a Special Meeting on December 11, 1884, the Commit-tee composed of Walter, Dodd, Low, Sturgis, and Weeks presentedits report. They recommended that the Society's Rooms be openedtwice a month for informal meetings and that, in addition, a new"Room Committee" composed of three members should make thearrangements. This recommendation was accepted with the amend-ment that the President should appoint such a Committee at eachannual meeting, and that its tenure should be one year. The RoomCommittee, which consisted of David L. Walter, Lyman H. Low, and

Gaston L. Feuardent, immediately sent out a circular announcing itsfirst meeting. That gathering was held on January I4th of the follow-ing year, and subsequent sessions were held frequently. Since the newseries of meetings were by design intended to be informal and devotedsolely to the study of numismatics, no business was transacted. In itsfirst report the Committee pointed to the astounding success whichattended their inception. It stated that it was pleased "to see members

who had not heretofore attended and in some instances those who haverarely been present at our formal business meetings."13 They suggested



106 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASthat the informal numismatic meetings should no longer be treatedas an experiment but rather as an "assured success." In accordancewith the suggestion made by the Committee in its first report, it wasdecided that the papers presented at the informal meetings should bepublished and that the meetings should be held with a frequency com-

mensurate with attendance. In 1885 ten papers were delivered beforethe membership at these informal sessions, and before the Annual Meet-ing of 1886 still another four had been added to the list. Unfortunatelythere was no fund for the publication of these papers, and it was onlyin the published version of the Proceedings of 1886 that an abstract of the papers delivered in 1885 was to be found.14 Publication was there-after quite regular.

By 1887 the Committee in its annual report said in part, "The Com-mittee is, as it believes, justified in congratulating itself and the So-ciety on the fact that not only have the numismatic meetings been regu-larly held and attended for nearly three years, but that even during thesummer months it has been possible to hold semi-monthly re-unionsand to secure an attendance from among those of the members whotake an active and living interest in the affairs and welfare of the So-ciety."15 Not only were these informal gatherings of great interest tothe members of the Society, but on occasion the local press reportedthese meetings and the numismatic publications sometimes publishedthe papers that were delivered.16The fact remains, however, that despite the early successes enjoyedby the Room Committee, from 1889 onwards there was discernable adecided slowing down of the activities of that group. In their reports,of course, the Committee attributed this apparent lethargy to the fact

that the problem of changing the locale of the meetings was a constantcare. By 1893, however, the transfer of the Society from their roomson 2oth Street to the Academy of Medicine Building on 43rd Streetwas completed, and in the new quarters which were decorated by alarge Persian rug and a President's chair given by Zabriskie, a dozennew chairs and a step ladder given by John M. Dodd, Jr., and manyother new items, we find a revival of the informal meetings with better

attendance than ever before.17 Of course the papers which had beenpresented continued to be published in the Proceedings of the Society.



1883-1905 107By February 1893, a total of fifty meetings had been held under thesupervision of the Room Committee. In 1893, however, the authoritygranted to the President to appoint a Room Committee annually wasrescinded after the passage of a resolution proposed by John M. Dodd,Jr. According to that resolution the new standing committees of the

Society were to be a Library Committee, a Numismatic Committee,and a Committee on Papers and Publications. This last committee wasto "arrange for the reading of papers before the Society, prepare thepublications of the Society, and correspond with other domestic andforeign societies and individuals interested in Numismatics."18The new committee promptly set to work improving the publicationsand carrying on the work of the former Room Committee. In actual

fact its purpose was a simplification of the methods for conducting in-formal meetings and for publications. Prior to 1893, at the end of eachannual meeting the Executive Committee had been allowed a certainsum of money for the publication of the Proceedings of the meeting andany other material that was considered proper. In May 1887, upon theproposal of Wright, it was decided that two more members should beappointed in addition to the Room Committee "to decide on papersread at Numismatic meetings, which shall be printed with the AnnualProceedings, and that they 'report' to the Executive committee." OnAugust 4th of the same year Betts proposed the further step that thecommittee having charge of the publication of the Proceedings shouldalso publish a record of the Numismatic meetings, and this was adoptedby the Society. Thus it can be seen that there was one committee whichwas charged with the supervision of the informal meetings and thepapers, and still another committee which was in charge of the papers

and the Proceedings. The responsibilities of the two committees were,in some measure, in conflict. This, however, did not cause too muchdifficulty because during the period 1888-1892 there were no issues of the Procedings. In 1893, the Publication Committee was very active,and the Proceedings for the last five annual meetings as well as Weeks'History of the Society, the membership rolls, and the papers read beforethe organization were published.19

From this point in^the history of the organization the number of informal meetings fell off rather sharply. There were only two held in



108 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEAS1893 at which papers were delivered, two more in 1894, five in 1895and three in 1896. The quality of the papers read to the Society, how-ever, did not in any way decline.In submitting his report in 1885, the Treasurer, Benjamin Betts,noted that "for the first time in eleven years . . . the annual income

from all sources (was) somewhat in excess of ... fixed expenses."20The next year showed an even pleasanter picture because of the JayB. Cornell bequest of $1,000. Cornell had been a member of theSociety since 1882, but apparently he did not take a very active partin the affairs of the organization, and there was no reason to expectsuch a large donation. Early in 1885, however, a letter was receivedfrom John H. Boynton of a group known as the Bureau of Information

as to Legacies and Bequests, located at 23 Beaver Street, advising theSociety that a bequest had been left to it during the year 1884. Parti-culars regarding that bequest could be obtained by a subcription tothe Bureau.21 The fee for this information was $25.00. Since thebequest was stated to be $ 1 ,000 and a collection of coins, there wasno question of the value of the information. The will had beenprobated in 1884, but the executor was a resident of Buffalo and hadnot informed the Society of the windfall that had come its way.22The letters which passed between the Society and Boynton show thata high degree of caution was demonstrated. First the Society had tobe assured that the legacy was in excess of the sum demanded for theinformation.23 Once such assurance was given the money was prompt-ly paid, and action was immediately taken to recover this first sizeablebequest. Horatio C. Harrower, who, it would seem, had been cur-iously remiss, indicated his willingness to pay the sum. There was, of

course, the usual delay inherent in such matters, and, some natural showof impatience on the part of some of the officers, but after much corres-pondence the $1000 was paid and the 288 coins and medals delivered.24Changes in the structure of the Society were made during the courseof the twenty year period covered in this chapter. At the very beginningtwo new departments were created. Two new offices, a Curator of Archaeology and an Historiographer, were filled at every annual meet-

ing until the adoption of a new Constitution in 1894. The first of theseoffices proved to be a sinecure. Men such as De Morgan and Feuardent



1883-1905 ICQat one time held the post, but very few reports were ever submitted andalmost all decried the lack of interest in that branch of the work of theorganization. In several of the reports the fact is plainly stated thatthere were no accessions for some years. In 1892 Herbert Valentine,then Curator of Archaeology, summed up the situation very concisely:It is greatly to be regretted that the Archaeological Department of this Society

has been so little cultivated. Although in its certificate of incorporation one of theobjects of the Society is stated to be 'the collection, examination, and elucidation of the antiquities of this and other countries,' it was not until 1884 that the office whichI now hold was created, and its duties separated from those of the Curator of Numis-matics. Strangely enough, the members of this Society seem almost exclusively de-voted to coins. Yet it is an undoubted fact that popular interest in archaeology ismore widely diffused than it is in the study of numismatics. In regard to our col-lection of archaeological objects it is hardly necessary to speak, because, besides afew flint implements and pieces of pottery, there is little worth mentioning. While

our cabinets, during the past five years, have received valuable donations of coins,and many interesting books have been added to the Library, the archaeologicalproperty of the Society has remained, and is to-day, practically in the same con-dition in which it was five years ago. Of course, want of proper accommodation for the display of specimens is largely responsible for this state of things. Let us hope thatwhen we take possession of our new quarters in the N. Y. Academy of Medicinebuilding, there will be a change for the better. I recommend that the papers to beread before the Society shall more frequently be of an archaeological character, andthat more attention be paid by members to the placing in our Library of the prin-

cipal works on archaeology.25The hopes expressed by Valentine were not rewarded in fact, and, by1894, the decision was taken to discontinue the department.In the case of the Historiographer the history of the office is notquite the same. It was also instituted as an elective post in 1884, butthroughout the entire period of its existence there were annual reportsof some length prepared by the incumbents. In substance, most of thework of the Historiographer lay in preparing obituary notices for thedeceased members of the Society, but it is worth noting that in 1892,

when William R. Weeks held the post, a short summary of the historyof the organization was prepared. Even at its apogee in 1892, when theHistory of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society was publishedwith the Proceedings, the office was still the least important of the elec-



110 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEAStive posts in order of listing. Therefore in 1894, when the post wasabolished as an elective office, it was continued as an appointive oneto prepare obituary notices. Reports continued to be submitted by thevarious holders of the title until 1905 with, of course, some gaps whenthere was no one appointed to carry on the work.

With the growth of the Society which was mirrored in the increas-ing number of members and the greater value of the collections andlibrary, the ever recurring problem of suitable quarters once morecame to the fore. The rooms at New York University could not servethe purpose. As a result, within five years of the time when the Societytook up quarters at that location, members were again looking for better rooms. In 1887, at the suggestion of Lyman H. Low, a committee

composed of Low, Poillon, Dodd, and Drowne was appointed to in-vestigate the possibility of securing more suitable quarters. It wasapparently well along in the following year before any concrete stepswere taken. In February and March of 1888 there had been some ex-ploratory correspondence with the Grolier Club, which, founded four years earlier, was devoted to the arts of book-making and book collect-ing; nothing came of this, however, other than the passage of a resolutionby the Society stating that it was"desirous of securing suitable quartersin a specially constructed building, and that the Executive Committee(was) authorized to lease suitable quarters, in such a building at anannual rental not to exceed four hundred dollars."26 At that time theSociety still held an option on its quarters in Room 25 of the New York University Building, and it was decided to continue there for another year, since there was no possibility of an immediate new location.Later in the year, however, the same subject came up for discussion

once again when the Committee, which had apparently been inactive,was reminded that the Society still hoped to hear from them. AtWeeks' suggestion, it was decided to call the attention of the membersgenerally to the problem by a circular, and to elicit their opinions.The nearly fifty replies which were received by January 15th of thefollowing year were almost uniformly in favor of a change in location.At the Annual Meeting on March 19, 1889, Low reported on behalf of

the Committee, that they had met on three separate occasions and hadlooked at various rooms located between 17th and 48th Streets. From



1883-1905 111their investigations it seemed obvious that no suitable change could bemade unless the sum of $750 were allotted annually for rent. For thatfigure two possible locations were suggested.27The members of the Committee on New Quarters for the year 1889were changed. It was now composed of Low, Dodd, Wilson, andGregory.28 Low, as Chairman, reported on June 6th that new quarters

had been secured at 101 East 2oth Street at the corner of 4th Avenue.These new quarters consisted of two rooms on the second floor and therent was payable in advance of the month. By November the move wascompleted, and all seemed satisfactory.Two years later in 1891 while the Society was still located at its newquarters on 2oth Street, the officers engaged in a rather amusing dis-pute with their landlady, Mrs. Graham. It would seem that somedoctors had also become tenants in the same building, and they had

begun a rather surprising advertising campaign by placing signs be-tween the windows on the front of the building on Fourth Avenue aswell as on the 2oth Street side. Here, however, there was some diffi-culty because the windows surrounding their signs belonged to theAmerican Numismatic and Archaeological Society. Consequentlythis became a topic for discussion at the Annual Meeting on March 16,1891.29 Drowne, as Corresponding Secretary, was requested to writeto Mrs. Graham, which he promptly did in most emphatic terms:At the Annual Meeting of this Society held March 16th 1891 it was duly movedand seconded that the secretary be authorized to communicate with you and requestthat the sign which has been placed between our front windows, by other parties oc-cupying your building, be removed at once.Your immediate attention, will oblige.30This letter did result in the immediate removal of the sign on the FourthAvenue side, but the other eyesore remained and in April Drowne wasaddressing Mrs. Graham once again:On March 17th 1891 we wrote you requesting that the signs on our premises be

removed at once. Going to the rooms recently writer notices that the sign betweenour front windows has been removed, but there still remains a large sign between our windows on 20th St.We must insist on the removal of the sign from our premises and trust you willgive this matter prompt attention.31



112 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASEliza Graham, a figure who might almost be drawn from a Shaviancomedy in this context, was duly chastened and answered two dayslater in a humble toned letter of her own:I have received your letter today. I have not forgotten about your sign, I spoketo the Doctors some time ago that their second sign, on 20th St. would have to beremoved, so now they are leaving me. I expect their things to be all taken away

tomorrow if possible, as I would not in any way do anything contrary to the wishesof your society, as I have always been very proud of having such gentlemen in thehouse.I have thought that the society would oblige me by letting me have the use of thewater in the hall, as without it, it is hard to let the Doctors rooms, would you obligeme by letting me have it? I would esteem it a very great favor and you can rely onmy promise that your premises shall not be interfered with in any way.Very respectfully,Eliza Graham32

Browne as Secretary was called upon to answer this humble letter, andhe did so in the most imperious tones while castigating the petitioner at the same time in the matter of the signs:Your letter of April 29th has been duly received. We were very much surprisedthat you allowed the signs to be put up on our premises. As regards the use of our hallI have no authority to act in this matter, and after the great loss we have subjectedto in your hands dare not do so.I will have your letters read at the next meeting of the Executive Commitee andwill then advise you.33

As could easily be foreseen the Executive Committee found "it im-possible to comply with (Mrs. Graham's) request."34During the very course of the dispute with Mrs. Graham, whichmust have served as a variety of comic relief for the more importantproblems facing the Society, Andrew C. Zabriskie proposed that sincethe organization was growing in resources a committee of five should beappointed to solicit subscriptions towards the purchase of a suitablebuilding. Zabriskie also offered to head the subscription list by a con-tribution of ôoo.35 The proposal was unanimously adopted, and led

to the appointment of such a committee by Parish. The newspapersquickly picked up this interesting turn of events, and short articles



New York University, Washington Square

Twenty-first Street and Fourth Avenue (The Society met in the corner building)



Medal Struck in Honor of Charles E. Anthon

Lea AhlbornLyrnan H. Low



1883-1905 113appeared in the New York Times of April 7th and the New York Tribuneof April 14th. With a start of a contribution of $5,000 and good publi-city in the local press there was every reason to expect success. Asecond subscription for still another $5,000 was rapidly forthcoming, butwithin the year only $2,810 was subscribed from all other sources.

Since the Committee estimated its needs at $40,000 there was a greatgap between the ideal and reality. The answers received to requests tosubscribe were almost uniformly in the negative, if we may judge fromthe extant correspondence.36 As a result the Committee itself wassomewhat disheartened, and in its report stated that the sum pledgedwas "too small to warrant going further in the matter and indicatesthat the plan as undertaken in its present form has proved a failure."37

The members of the Committee, Zabriskie, Poillon, Pryer, Valentine,Drowne, and Parish requested that they be discharged as a committee,but they also suggested that the Society "keep the matter under con-sideration and at some future time take it up on a new basis and carryit to a more successful issue."The Executive Committee Report for the year 1892 bore the stampof the feeling of disappointment which the Building Fund Committeehad felt. This, of course, is not too surprising, since six of the ten mem-bers of the Executive Committee were also members of the BuildingFund Committee.38At the same time that plans for the purchase of a building devotedto the Society were being laid, a proposal for a joint purchase of a build-ing was received from the New York Genealogical and BiographicalSociety.39 From the form of the proposal it was quite obvious that theGenealogical and Biographical Society was uncertain about its own

future and merely suggested discussions. Nothing came of the idea,and the problem of new quarters, which arose periodically in thehistory of the Society from its inception, remained. Finally a specialmeeting of the Society was called for February 23, 1892, and at Parish'ssuggestion the notices for that meeting contained specific reference tothe subject.40 At this meeting a new report was requested from theCommittee, and Zabriskie, as Chairman, reported that a number of

buildings had been investigated. The best site in the eyes of the Com-mittee was in the Academy of Medicine Building at 17 West 43rd



114 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASStreet. This building was really quite modern in that it was fire-proof,imposing in appearance, and contained lecture rooms which mightbe rented for moderate prices when the occasion required, but aboveall it had an elevator. It was possible to rent a room in that buildingfor $50.00 per month including heat, light, and attendance. This

obviously fulfilled all the expectations of the Society and the Committeewas authorized to rent the room and make all necessary arrangements.41Contributions were made toward the expenses of moving and somefew arrangements with the Academy of Medicine were completedbefore all was ready for the transfer.42 The final step was taken after the Annual Meeting of 1892, and it must have come as a blow to poor Eliza Graham, who just the previous year had been so diligent about

pleasing the members of the Society.During this same period a number of other proposals had been putforward to solve the perennial problem of location, but none of themwere accepted.43 There was, for instance, the suggestion of an allianceof the various scientific societies which was apparently backed bycertain members of the University Club.44 Parish exercised goodjudgment when he pointed out that "the American Numismatic &Archaeological Society has now a good foothold and has sufficientroom to grow in without asking favors from anybody, and as everyyear rolls by it is likely to grow stronger than the year before. As it isnow situated I do not think that a slow growth of members is anydisadvantage provided we get the right ones who do not join for thename of it but because they are interested in our pursuits, otherwisethey might be a drawback instead of a help." The invitation to join theAlliance of New York Scientific Societies was not a formal one, as

Parish properly noted, and arrangements concerning the rights andduties of the various societies which were to be members had not beensettled.45 The decision to remain aloof certainly seems to have been awise one under the circumstances.The idea of such mergers of societies with common interests, how-ever, was a very intriguing one, and in 1895 it came up once again inconnection with the New York Genealogical and Biographical So-

ciety. This proposal envisioned the formation of a new organizationwhich might be called the "Antiquarian Society" and which would



1883-1905 115have sections devoted to Archaeology, Biography, Ethnology, Gene-alogy, Local History, and Numismatics. The supposed sections wouldeach have a vice-president and hold separate meetings. They would berepresented in the larger unit by delegates.46 This idea, however, alsoseems to have been rejected, but relations with the Genealogical and

Biographical Society remained very friendly for in 1897 a new offer of rooms in their building was made.47 Once again the offer was not ac-cepted.At the turn of the century the primary problem of suitable quartersfor the Society had not been solved. There were only two possible finalanswers. Either the Society had to acquire a permanent building of itsown or it had to merge with another group which could offer proper rooms. As long as the Society continued to be a tenant organization

there were bound to be incidents of an unpleasant nature.48 Theproblem reached a critical point in 1901 when Dr. Sayre, Treasurer of the Academy of Medicine, informed the Society that a move wasnecessary. Andrew C. Zabriskie who had become President in 1896,faced the situation boldly, but the only decision that could be takenwas that the Executive Committee should once again look for newrooms.49 At the same time a Committee consisting of Valentine andDrowne was appointed to approach Dr. Sayre about the possibility of

retaining the room for one more year. This resulted in failure becauseof the legal complications which might ensue for the Academy of Medicine.50 Other sites such as the Mechanical Engineers Buildingon 31st Street and the Mechanics and Tradesmens Society on 44thStreet were surveyed, but nothing that exactly fitted the requirementsof the Society was found. Finally accommodations were secured at theUnion Dime Savings Bank, 1271 Broadway, where the first meetingwas held on April 24th.51 This was a special meeting called for the

express purpose of showing the members the new rooms. In intro-ducing the Society to its new quarters at Broadway and Thirty-secondStreet the Executive Committee reported, "These rooms give what haslong been neededâ€”ample space for the arrangement and display of theSociety's library and collections. There has not, so far, been time to geteverything in order, but you can see, by what has already been donein that direction, that the rooms are very well suited to the Society's8*



116 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASneeds." Andrew C. Zabriskie, in his Presidential Address on January19, 1903, surveyed the move and its effects in greater detail:We face each other to-night, however, in a very different location from the onewhich we occupied at our last meeting, and which had been our pleasant home for ten years. The decision of the Academy of Medicine, that our room was needed for its own institution, was not an agreeable announcement. While it had been apparent

to those most interested in the welfare of the Society that we were fast outgrowingour accommodations in the Academy of Medicine Building, yet it was felt that thetime was not ripe to move.In that pleasant sky parlor, the Society had gradually increased in strength andfinancial resources. We went there with barely one hundred members; we left therewith twice that number; we went there virtually bankrupt, with an income barelysufficient to pay half our yearly rent, and meet our other modest bills, the other half of our yearly rent being met by the generosity of one of our members; we left

there with an income sufficient not only to pay the rent, but large enough to meetother outlays in printing, etc., which would have been thought, and very justly,wildly extravagant some years ago.Unfortunately, however, the move which we have made has doubled our rent,and the surplus with which the year began has been wiped out. The rooms in whichwe find ourselves tonight, although apparently the most desirable of those availablelast spring, cannot be considered in any way permanent. Nor is it desirable thatthey should be so considered. The quiet and repose which should surround thequarters of a learned society are not to be had here. It behooves us then to look wellinto the future and prepare ourselves in ample time for another move to a locationmore in harmony with our aims and inclinations, and where our superb collectionof coins and medals, together with our exceptionally complete and valuable numis-matic Library, may be safely housed.62President Zabriskie probably took a harsher view of the situationof the Society than was warranted. The Treasurer's Report for the year 1903 is not quite as gruesome as we might be led to believe from Zabris-kie's statements. After all expenses were paid for the year there re-

mained a balance of $496.94, and the Society had permanent fundsinvested which amounted to $9,821.25, while even its activities inrunning a School for Coin and Medal Designing ended the year witha balance on hand of $675.14.53 The Society's financial resources, ascompared with the previous year had been somewhat reduced, but itscondition was still eminently healthy. Financial stability was not thereal difficulty; it was rather the fact that President Zabriskie had re-



Academy of Medicineâ€”17 West 43rd Street

William R. WeeksHenry Russell Drowne



Charles G. Dock!Andrew C. ZabriskiePresident 1896 1905

George Albert Zabriskie



1883-1905 I17cognized in his address that the change to the new quarters was onlya temporary measure and a more realistic solution remained to befound. Zabriskie had not always opposed the idea of a separate build-ing owned and controlled by the Society. In his Presidential Addressin 1898, however, he had said, "I desire to place on record my ownconviction that our Society is in no need of its own buildingâ€¢ We are

not a Club, but a Society, and can it seems to me pursue our pathbetter, housed under the roof of this learned body, the New York Aca-demy of Medicine, than if we were troubled or harassed by the caresor anxieties attendant upon the possession of a building of our own."54In the following year President Zabriskie's Address contained a con-crete plan for assuring for the future of the Society:We live in the era of consolidation and solidification. We see it in all businessaffairs, and we have a notable example of it in the superb Consolidated Librarysoon to be erected upon the Tilden, Astor, and Lenox foundations. Gould not the

method be pursued in caring for the learned societies of New York? Why cannot thesplendid site owned by the New-York Historical Society on Central Park West becovered by a building giving accomodations to, besides itself, the American Geo-graphical Society, the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, and theGenealogical Society? It is a broad idea well worthy of consideration. I am fullyaware that countless objections will be raised, but nevertheless, mark my words,such a result, appealing as it does to the sound judgement of business men, is likelyto find favor.By 1903 Zabriskie's position had not changed, but he was now

actively working towards achieving the goals that he had set forth inhis earlier speech. He began to formulate precise plans, and in 1903 hesaid:To secure the proper preservation of what we have, as well as to encourageadditional gifts in the future, it is clear to me that the proper place for our collectionis within fireproof walls, guarded by watchmen, and where the public may havean opportunity of seeing and enjoying our numismatic treasure. If such accommo-dation could be secured within the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the New PublicLibrary, the Society, released from the burden of rent, could afford to employ a

suitable person to take charge of the collections and conduct the clerical work of theSociety. If additional arrangements could be made to use a hall or room for thestated meetings of the Society, nothing further could be desired, and a career of



118 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASusefulness would open up to us far greater than can easily be measured at the presenttime.The individuality of the Society should not be disturbed; we are an incorporatedbody authorized to hold property and do so hold invested funds to the amount of $10,000.To-night there is a large and representative attendance of members present. I

trust before this Society adjourns a resolution will prevail endorsing the views whichI have endeavored to convey to you here, and calling for the appointment of a com-mittee to open negotiations looking to the active carrying out of the scheme I haveoutlined.65Herman C. von Post was not slow to take the broad hint given by thePresident and he proposed that "that portion of the President's Addressthat relates to the proper accommodation and preservation of thecollections of this Society be referred to a special committee of sevenmembers, of which the President shall be chairman, and that said

committee shall report at a subsequent meeting of the Society."56 Thismotion was carried unanimously.During the course of the next year this committee held several meet-ings, but, understandably enough in view of the chairmanship of Zabriskie, it arrived at the conclusion quite "early in its deliberationsthat no proper fireproof accommodations could be secured, indepen-dently, for this Society with the means at its command, and conse-quently your Committee turned its attention to the possibility of se-curing accommodations within the walls of buildings of other insti-

tutions of somewhat similar character."57 If that was so, the only so-lution lay in a merger of the Society into another group. The terms of that merger are so vital to an understanding of the rift that developedwithin the Society because of them that they should be quoted in full:For some time, in conjunction with a committee of the New-York HistoricalSociety, your Committee has been considering the subject of a merger, or consoli-dation, of this Society with the New-York Historical Society. The interests of thatSociety are in many respects similar to those of this Society, and it possesses a col-lection of coins and medals, and has archaeological collections of considerable value.

In these discussions it has been proposed to hold intact the invested securities of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, and to use the income for the purchase of coins and medals and numismatic and archaeological books.



1883-1905 IIQThe collections of this Society would be kept on permanent exhibition under thecare of a suitable person, in cases properly arranged and so marked by tablet or otherwise as to indicate that they were derived from this Society.A special section devoted to numismatics and archaeology, might be establishedas a department of the New-York Historical Society, by whom the work of the Societycould be carried on without any break in its continuity.

Any legacies, which may be left to the American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety, would be received by its successor, the New-York Historical Society, in-vested in suitable securities and the income used for numismatic and archaeologicalpurposes.The present honorary and active members of this Society would become likemembers of the New-York Historical Society. The dues derived from those activemembers who are not life members would be used by the New-York HistoricalSociety for its general purposes. The admirable situation of the site and the fireproof character of the building which the New-York Historical Society is erecting, render,

in the opinion of your Committee, the union of the two greatly to be desired.This Committee, therefore, unanimously recommends that this Society be con-solidated with the New-York Historical Society upon such terms and at such timeas may be advised by the counsel of the two societies, and that suitable power begiven to a special committee to be appointed for the purpose of carrying out a planof consolidation.88From the composition of the Committee, Andrew C. Zabriskie,Edward D. Adams, Alfred J. Bloor, M. Taylor Pyne, John L. Riker,Herman C. von Post, and George Zabriskie, it is quite evident that

President Zabriskie had very effective control over its deliberations.Only Alfred Bloor had ever held an elective office in the Society, andthat was as Recording Secretary for the years 1903 and 1904. Threeof the members of the Committee, Riker, Post, and George Zabriskie,had never held any committee posts or any office at all. Zabriskie pro-posed, in fact, to bury the Society as effectively as the New York Numismatic Society had been buried. Within the New-York HistoricalSociety the small group of numismatists could have been absorbedwithout so much as a ripple. This is perhaps best illustrated by the

fact that no mention is made of this plan for merger in the sesquicen-tennial history of the New-York Historical Society.59In his Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting of 1904 at whichthe report of the Committee was presented, Zabriskie devoted almost



120 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASthe entire speech to supporting the proposal. In one section of thataddress he said:My membership in this Society dates back over thirty years, and during over twenty years of this time I have had the honor to serve its interests as an officer, firstas Vice-President and then as President. Purely from a sentimental point of view,the consolidation or amalgamation proposed, causes in me, as doubtless it does in

all the older members, a feeling of sadness. But we must not yield to sentiment. Thefact remains that there are too many small societies in existence to-day, many keptalive by the vanity of their officers. I think I can speak for my dear friends, the boardof officers of this Society, as well as for myself, when I say that we willingly step downfrom our positions, and advance the cause of numismatics and archaeology.60Alfred Bloor then rose and after re-reading the portion of the Com-mittee's report containing the recommendation moved "That thisSociety be consolidated with the New-York Historical Society uponsuch terms and at such time as may be advised by the counsel of the

two societies, and that suitable power be given to a special committeeto be appointed for the purpose of carrying out a plan of consoli-dation."61 There was full opportunity for debate on this crucial step,with Drowne, Valentine, Groh, Parish, Low, Hewitt, Adams, andHoffman taking the floor. Even with Zabriskie's support, however,the matter could not be settled. The minutes of that meeting show thatthere were 205 active members on the rolls at the time, but the reso-lution, which was nothing more than a restatement of the substantivepart of the Committee report, carried by only 28 ayes to 15 nays. This

could not be the final decision. Zabriskie, however, appointed themembers of the old Committee to be the new Committee on Consoli-dation with the New-York Historical Society.On May 16th the Joint Committee of the two societies submitted aletter together with a copy of the agreement relating to the merger.Both were read and presented for action. Olyphant rose to recommendthat debate on the question be limited to one and a half hours, but thisattempt at cloture failed. Hewitt suggested that speakers be limited tofive minutes with the added provision that each should speak only

once. Again the motion failed to pass. A lengthy discussion ensued inwhich Backus, Beekman, Parish, Weeks, Woolf, and George Zabriskieparticipated. It was plain that the membership was not quite ready



1883-1905 121for the interment of what they felt was a vital body. Finally, Bloor took the floor and moved "That in the interests of harmony and, in theend, of justice to both this Society and the New-York Historical So-ciety, it is moved that the question of consolidation be laid on the tableuntil the next regular meeting of this Society in November." Professor

Woolf, Anthon's old colleague, tried to amend this resolution to read"That the matter be laid on the table until the New-York HistoricalSociety had provided quarters for this Society in their new building."This amendment failed by a vote of 94 nays to 70 ayes, but it is ameasure of the significance of the problem that for the first time thechair had been forced to appoint tellers in the persons of Belden andHewitt because of the number of proxies used in voting. Bloor's originalmotion was now re-read and carried unanimously.

On November 10th a long article appeared in the New York Heraldunder the headline "MERGER SPLITS THE NUMISMATISTS," with smaller headlines reading "Proposal to unite This Organization and theHistorical Society Is Resented by Many Members" and "ChargeSharp Practices." The final headline read "Troubles Will BeBrought to Culmination at Society's Next Meeting on November 21." The newspaper article then pointed out that the movement for themerger had been started by Zabriskie. Since the Society included many

prominent people the problem had to be taken seriously. Among thenames listed were Edward D. Adams, Frederic J. de Peyster, JohnWatts de Peyster, William E. Dodge, George J. Gould, John AspinwallHadden, H. O. Havemeyer, Cyrus J. Lawrence, Richard Hoe Law-rence, Charles S. Mellen, Moses Taylor Pyne, Augustus St. Gaudens,William Rhinelander Stewart and William K. Vanderbilt. Theopposition to the merger had circulated a petition charging that thosefavoring the move had used questionable practices to achieve their end

while the Society was financially quite sound, and that an attempt hadbeen made at the May meeting to "railroad" the merger through.There were actually two forms of petition circulated. The more violentone went to those who were known to be opposed to the merger whilethe softer version went to the others. Among those opposed were Parish,Belden, Betts, Dodd, Gregory, Low, Poillon, and Weeks. It was further alleged that those who favored the merger were not the active numis-



122 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASma lists but only a small splinter of the membership. The version sent tothe members of the opposition were said to contain the proxies whichwere mentioned in the minutes of the meeting of May 16th. At thatmeeting Gerard Beekman, Jr., who had previously given his proxy toPresident Zabriskie, took the floor and recorded his opposition to themerger on the grounds that the members of the Society should consider

themselves in the light of trustees for the collections and other properties.This was, of course, taken as a great victory for the opposition. Weeksand Professor Woolf viewed the suggested merger as the "Lying downtogether of the lion and the lambâ€”with the lamb inside." The oppo-sition stressed the fact that the only requirement placed upon theHistorical Society was to "mark the collection by tablet or otherwise,after which it could use the permanent funds of the Numismatic So-ciety for building or any other purpose."After all that had preceded it, the meeting of November 21st was

somewhat anticlimactic. Weeks called for the resolution to be takenfrom the table. That was approved. He then called for a vote. Therewas some discussion, a call of the roll of the members present, and itwas rejected by a vote of all present except Harry M. Hewitt who de-clined to vote. J. Otis Woodward then moved:That while this Society declines to approve the action of the joint committeeappointed by this Society and by the Executive Committee of the New-York HistoricalSociety recommending the merger of this Society into and its consolidation with theHistorical Society, it is the sense of this Society that we tender to the Historical

Society our good will and hearty co-operation in all matters in which the interests of the two Societies are akin: that a copy of this resolution be sent to the ExecutiveCommittee of the Historical Society; and that the Committee appointed by thisSociety to confer upon the question be discharged with thanks.A letter to that effect was sent to the New-York Historical Society,and its receipt was acknowledged.The crisis in the affairs of the Society had been successfully passed.By the summer of 1905 when Belden wrote to Moses Taylor Pyneabout the general situation he said in part:

Replying to your favor of the 8th inst. would say that the question of amalga-mation with the New-York Historical Society, after various delays, was brought



1883-1905 123to vote on November 21st last and defeated. I enclose a copy of the resolution thatwas passed on that occasion. I mailed a copy of this resolution to each member of the Society some time ago, the copy sent you must have gone astray as I went over the list carefully.Since this question has been settled and out of the way, the Society has beenmaking most satisfactory progress, and is now in a better condition than ever before.

Since the first of the year 43 new members have been elected making the member-ship roll considerably larger than at any time in the Society's history, over $1,000has been added to the permanent funds by the election of life members and nearly1500 coins and medals, many of which are most valuable, have been added to our collection. The members generally seem to be taking a more active interest in theSociety and the Executive Committee is greatly pleased and encouraged by the waythings are going. If the Society continues to gain, as it has in the past few months, itwill soon be in a most independent position and able to do better work than in thepast.

The difficulties inherent in the lack of a permanent meeting placedo not seem to have hampered the activities of the Society though itwas necessarily an inconvenience. As early as 1884, when the offices of Curator of Archaeology and Historiographer were added, it was pro-posed that there should be one Vice-President elected "for each fiftyResident Members or parts thereof." This resolution was passed with-out any difficulty. At the time this did not increase the number of Vice-Presidents over the three which were assigned in the last version of theConstitution. In the next year, on the motion of David L. Walter,

it was decided that instead of a nominating committee all nominationsfor elective offices should be made viva voce at the annual meeting.Obviously this change was designed to give a greater base for the ex-pression of popular feeling.62By 1887 the size of the Society had increased to 171 Resident Mem-bers which necessitated the election of a Fourth Vice-President. Thisoffice was held for three years by David L. Walter. He, having beenelected Third Vice-President, was in turn succeeded in 1880 by JamesOliver. Walter, a prominent attorney in this city, had served the So-

ciety in many important ways, and it was at his suggestion that theinformal meetings of the Society were begun; he read several papers atthose meetings. It was Walter, at the risk of a certain amount of un-popularity among the other officers, who proposed that nominations



124 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASbe made viva wee. His untimely death on June 28, 1892, after a brief illness, was a real loss to the organization. William R. Weeks, theHistoriographer, wrote in the obituary announcement, "If each andevery member of the Society had done as much as he to increase itsusefulness, the Society would be a power for good, and its membershipwould compel us to 'tear down our barns and build greater.'"63

Other changes regarding fees and types of membership or meetingdates were made in the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. In1891 the number of Resident Members fell to 140, eliminating one of the Vice Presidents. It did not rise above 148 during the years prior to 1894 when the new constitution was adopted so that, in effect, theoffice was eliminated. The number of such changes gradually accu-mulated to a point where it became more reasonable to revise theentire Constitution and By-Laws rather than to carry on in a make-shift fashion. The new Constitution of 1894 was very carefully prepared.

All the amendments made up te 1884 had previoulsy been incorpo-rated into a published version which served as the working copy. Theproposed revisions of the Constitution and By-Laws were publishedby the Committee conjointly with an amended text prior to the AnnualMeeting of 1894. There does not appear to have been any substantialdisagreement about the new Constitution, and it was quickly approved.The actual text was not published, however, before 1896, by whichtime still other amendments were simply included in place of theoriginal version. By 1901 the number of amendments made it neces-

sary that these be printed under separate cover.64Daniel Parish, Jr., led the Society through this period of change inits Constitution. Though the impressive strides that had been madeduring the leadership of President Anthon were not repeated, stillthere was a great deal of activity in various fields. This was done despitethe fact that illness in 1889 caused Parish to consider very seriously thepossibility of resigning his responsibilities.65 In a letter of that year hewrote:I regret to say that my health is not sufficiently restored to enable me to go out

at night or to give any idea when I can do so. In fact my own lack of strength is suchat present as to make it almost impossible to ask the doctor when I am likely to doit. Still I am going on very well in the house, but my efforts out of doors are limited to



Union Dime Savings Bank (View from Thirty-third Street "L" station, looking south)

Washington Centennial Medal



Medal in Honor of Daniel Parish, Jr.

Daniel Parish, Jr., President 1883-1896Charles Gregory



1883-1905 125about two hours a day when I must keep in the open air as much as possible or elseI will feel the effects. I am sorry this is so as I long to be able to go about as formerly,but on the other hand it might easily be worse as I have heard of one case where itis feared that the patient will never be himself again and two others have sailed for Europe, one if not both to be under medical advice that there was no recovery for them here. Fortunately I am exempt from anything of that kind, and as I hope to

stay so, and as I feel there are prospects of my being not only in better health butstronger than ever I was before, I must make haste slowly. Now having said all thisthe thought will immediately occur to you that of course it will be impossible for me to be at the Annual Meeting which is a matter of course though it is only withina week or so that it has seemed certain. Now this being the case it seems rather absurd for the Society to reelect me as President when circumstances have preventedmy being present for so long a time. Hence I hope you will recall the conversation wehad in January, and if anyone wishes to know how I regard the matter you can saythat I think it would be best for the Society to elect someone else as President as it is

not only fair that everyone should have a chance but those who are absent from anycause whatsoever especially after they have had their turn as I have. Meanwhile donot let it be thought for a moment that I am at all discontented or weary of theposition as I think the prospects of the Society attaining an influential position in thecommunity were never brighter than they are now. It will take a few years of patientsteady effort on the part of every member not only to hold what we have, but toattain further results. So I hope you will now fully understand what is to be done andwill call the meeting of the Executive Committee without regard to me.At the Annual Meeting of 1889 the Presidential Address was delivered

by Andrew C. Zabriskie, but the Society re-elected Parish as its head.It was a move fully justified by the later course of events. At that timeparticular mention was made of the fact that the President had con-tributed the Richard Hoe Lawrence collection of books on the coinageof ancient Rome. A special resolution thanking Parish was passed. Thiscollection numbered over 100 volumes, and its addition to the librarywas significant. The Executive Committee stated that as of that datethe library in the Society's possession was "second to none in thecountry." The Librarian reported, "It is a conservative statement to

assert that our collection of books, treating upon the subject of numis-matics, exceeds all others in this country, both private and public."This position of eminence the organization has continued to maintainto the present day.Daniel Parish's efforts on behalf of the Society deserved recognition,and an appropriate means of expressing the affection felt for him was



126 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASfound. In 1890 a medal was struck in his honor from a model preparedby Lea Ahlborn. It is a beautifully designed piece with an inscriptionon the reverse which reads, FROM HIS FELLOW-NUMISMATISTS INGRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF HIS ZEAL FOR AND DEVOTION TO THESCIENCE.66 This was in the sixth year of his Presidency. Charles

Gregory made the presentation at a special meeting called for thatpurpose on June 12, 1890, and at the Annual Meeting of that year he and four other donors gave the large electrotype plaque, fromwhich the original design for the medal had been taken, and the can-celled dies.67By 1892 the Society had attained a position of importance in theworld of scholarship. Extracts from the minutes of its meetings wereappearing with frequency in The American Journal of Numismatics, The

Collector, The New Amsterdam Gazette, The Numismatist, and even abroadin the British publications Numismatology and Spink's Numismatic Month-ly. It was only fitting and proper that the organization should takecognizance of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. The Societa Geografica Italiana of Rome in-formed the Society that the Royal Committee entrusted with celebrat-ing the event was collecting in a special monograph descriptions of allthe coins and medals issued in honor of the discoverer. They requested

aid from the American group. Of course the Society co-operated bysoliciting all information available from its members, but only thePresident was aware of any. Parish, in his usual unassuming fashion,donated a Columbus medal to the Society, and a description of thatmedal was forwarded to Rome.At the same time a great Columbian Exposition was to be held inNew York and to culminate in Chicago at the World's Fair. A commit-tee consisting of Wright, Zabriskie, and Parish was appointed to make

arrangements for the participation of the Society in the World's Fair.Ambitious plans were formulated involving a fine display and an expertto explain it to the visitors. Unfortunately, the space finally allotted to theSociety would not have been large enough to accommodate the ex-hibition, and the dilatory tactics of the managers of the World's Fair occasioned some misgivings about the entire enterprise. The offer topresent such an exhibition was therefore withdrawn. This caused



1883-1905 127some anxiety among the organizers of the New York State Exhibit atthe Fair; L. M. Howland, the General Manager, made a vain per-sonal appeal for participation.68 The Society had decided to hold aColumbian Exhibition of its own in its quarters at the Academy of Medicine.69 A total of 122 coins and medals were displayed, and a short

brochure about them was published.70 The affair was a completesuccess, for it was recorded in the minutes that nearly 800 people at-tended. In its final report the Committee of Arrangements spoke of the "crowded rooms" and the "evident interest evinced by visitors andmembers alike."71George F. Kunz, who joined the organization at the beginning of 1893, became particularly active in the Society at this time. Kunz had

many fields of interest including geology, mineralogy, and numis-matics. A native New Yorker, he had written many fine works on gemsand represented this country at various expositions abroad. He was aVice-President and the leading gem expert of Tiffany & Co.72 A specialvote of thanks was given to Kunz by the Society for his successful ex-ertions in securing copies of all the medals struck for the World's Fair or Columbian Exposition.73 The Society itself was among the bodieswhich struck such a piece to commemorate the discovery of America.At the meeting of January 16, 1893, a resolution was passed for thatpurpose enabling the President to appoint a committee of three "topresent the resolution to Tiffany & Co. with power to act as the re-presentatives of the Society." Work progressed very rapidly, so thattwo months later the Committee could report that a number of Colum-bus portraits had been secured and the designers were at work.74 ByNovember 1893, the medal had been issued, and three copies were sent

to the Society.75Medallic art includes the subject of coin design, and the Societytook an active part in the attempt to improve American coinage fromthe artistic point of view. George F. Kunz, as early as November 1893,had proposed a resolution calling upon the Secretary of the Treasury"to appoint a committee of five to pass upon all coins and medals to bestruck by the United States Mint. This Committee to consist of at least

two artists of undoubted reputation, and at least two members whohave a knowledge of coinage and the medallic art, and which (sic!) shall



128 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASbe named by the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society.This joint Committee to pass upon all coins and medals to be cut bythe United States Mint, and also to be an advisory Committee." TheSociety favored the substance of the resolution in all respects save thefact that it would have originated within the organization; hence it

failed to pass. Kunz and Parish, however, were appointed as a com-mittee with power to act on any proposition relative to a change of coinage.A special meeting devoted to this question was convened on Febru-ary 5, 1894. Kunz now presented a new resolution suggesting that themetric system be adopted for U.S. coinage so that it might enhance itsutility throughout the world. This resolution also requested that Con-

gress direct the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint a committee of five, consisting of two well known sculptors, artists or medallists namedby the National Sculpture Society of New York; two well known nu-mismatists or medal collectors named by the American Numismaticand Archaeological Society; and a fifth who was a recognized authori-ty on weights and measures to consider "all matters relating to theUnited States mints as appertain to the weight, design and executionof coins and medals for the future." It was further proposed that theSecretary of the Treasury be directed to spend $5,000 to be dividedamong artists and designers and $5,000 to be divided among diesink-ers willing to compete for these prizes with the condition that thecontest should yield a result capable of use by the Mint. It was a far reaching plan involving the Society as clearly as Kunz's original pro-posal.76The fact that this new proposal was carried is explicable in simple

terms. On February 2, 1894, the National Sculpture Society had ad-dressed a letter to the Society attacking the artistic merit of the coinageand inviting joint activity to obtain better results. Additional supportwas asked and given by the Archaeological Institute of America, theBoston Fine Arts Club, the Architectural League of New York, theSociety of American Artists, the National Academy of Design, thePennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Club of Philadelphia.77

A letter had already been sent by the National Sculpture Society tothe Secretary of the Treasury giving their views.



1883-1905 I2QThe idea of improving the design of American coinage was favoredby many people, but there were those who recognized the difficultiesfacing such a proposal and were skeptical about its success.78 Never-theless, a joint committee was established in conjunction with the Na-tional Sculpture Society to carry out the idea. There were six represen-

tatives from the Society, Kunz, Zabriskie, Parish, Dodd, Tonnele, andDrowne. This joint committee suggested not only that a change of design be advocated but also that the metric system be adopted withregard to coinage.79Unlike so many other projects which perish by a slow tortuous deathin the hands of a committee, the new coinage proposal was activelyfostered. The joint committee, which in its final form included repre-

sentatives from our Society, the National Sculpture Society, the So-ciety of American Artists, the Architectural League of New York, theNational Academy of Design, and the College of the City of New York,with Russell Sturgis as Chairman and George F. Kunz as Secretary,offered two prizes of $300 and $100 each for the best designs. An ex-hibition was held under the auspices of the National Sculpture Societyat the American Fine Arts Building from May 7-21st, 1895. A largenumber of people attended, and the new designs for a U. S. dollar were displayed. Along with them there was an exhibition of coins andmedals as well as of electrotype copies covering the entire span of numismatic studies. Even the United States Mint participated throughthe loan of several pieces. On May 19th the jury sat to award theprizes, and the first prize was given to Albert Jaegers for an eaglereverse, with the second prize for an obverse design of Liberty goingto Albert Randolph Ross, both of this city. It is somewhat anticlimactic,

but it must be reported, that on the motion of Augustus St. Gaudens,the renowned sculptor who later designed coins for the Mint, the Execu-tive Council of the National Sculpture Society had adopted a reso-lution on May ijih stating "that these awards in no way commit thejoint jury to the endorsement or commendation of the model, and havebeen made simply because the terms of the competition call for anaward of the prizes; and the Committee in no way recommend the

models for execution."80 At the Annual Meeting of our Society, how-ever, after copies of the prize entries had been received, it was moved



130 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASand carried "that the thanks of the Society be expressed to Messrs.Albert Jaegers and Albert R. Ross for their very acceptable gifts of the electrotypes of their models for the United States silver dollar."Of course the work of the Committee had not been completed, andthey continued to press for a better coinage. In 1897, Daniel Parish as

Chairman of the Committee on New Coinage submitted an elaboratereport presenting a revised scheme to the Society. After pointing outthat changing the coinage to any degree was essentially an internationalrather than a national affair, and giving vigorous support for theadoption of the metric system, Parish called for Congress to appro-priate ten thousand dollars for every coin authorized to be struck. Thisten thousand dollars was to be placed at the disposal of a committee

of not more than five members including a portrait painter, a sculptor,a numismatist, an engraver or practical diesinker of American coins,and a fifth individual chosen by the National Academy of Sciences be-cause of his thorough knowledge of the metric system. The money atthe disposal of this committee for each coin was to be divided intoequal segments. Ten prizes of $500 each was to be given to the artistssubmitting the ten best designs, and these ten men were then to com-pete for the remaining $5,000 grand prize. An agreement was to bereached with the winner that permitted the use of his design, with hisname appended, for the striking of a coin for general circulation.81 Asfar as can be determined nothing was ever done towards carrying outthe scheme. The report was filed and nothing further was heard fromthe Committee.During the twenty years from 1885 to 1905 the interest of the So-ciety in improved medallic art was cultivated and nine medals were

issued. In addition to the Anthon, Parish, and Columbus medals,there was a medal in honor of Dr. William Augustus Muhlenbergwhich was struck in 1896 to commemorate the opening of the St.Luke's Hospital building on Cathedral Heights.82The completion of Grant's tomb was the occasion for another medal.In 1897 a committee was established for the striking of that piece withGeorge F. Kunz serving as Secretary; Tiffany & Co. prepared the dies.

The sale of the medals did not completely cover the cost, but thedeficit was paid without any difficulty. In addition, specimens in silver



1883-1905 131were presented to Mr. U. S. Grant, President McKinley, Mayor Strong, Viceroy Li-Hung Chang, Pope Leo XIII, the Queen of Eng-land, the President of France, the Emperor of Germany, the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of Japan, the Emperor of China, the Queen of Holland, the King of Sweden, the Emperor of Austria, the King of

Italy, and the King of Spain. A copy in bronze was given to the Pre-sident of Venezuela and one in gold to General Horace Porter.83 OnFriday evening, April 23, 1897, the presentation to General Porter took place in the presence of Mr. George Maccullach Miller, Presidentof St. Luke's Hospital, and President Seth Low of Columbia Univer-sity. The other presentations were made by mail and the royal letterswhich were received in return were bound together and made a per-manent part of the Society's Library.

In 1897, William Rhinelander Stewart suggested that another medalbe struck to commemorate the Twenty-fifth National Conference of Charities and Correction to be held in New York on May 18, 1898.Stewart was President of the conference. It was decided to do so oncondition that the medals be issued at no expense to the Society; thatthe members of the Society have the right to purchase one specimen inwhatever metals the pieces were struck; that the Society approve thedesign; and that the cancelled dies be deposited with the Society. The

Local Committee of One Hundred of the Conference quickly assumedthe burden of the expense, and the medal was shortly issued. One piecewas struck in gold and presented to William Rhinelander Stewart.84The obverse design by Victor Brenner was quite striking. It showed afigure of the Angel of Mercy, descending with outstretched wings, andhands extended in an attitude of protection over two seated figures, theone on the left a female with hands clasped and face uplifted, re-presenting poverty, and on the right a male criminal with bowed head

resting on his right hand, and a manacle on his left wrist. The Con-ference requested and received the right to use this design as its seal.85In honor of the consolidation of the five communities about the Portof New York to form Greater New York in 1898, still another medalwas issued. The design was prepared by Edward Hagaman Hall, andthe dies cut by Tiffany & Co. Andrew H. Green, the Father of Greater New York, had proposed such a consolidation in an official report in9*



132 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEAS1868. Preparation had been made for a magnificent celebration of theCharter Day, and one feature of the festivities was to be the presen-tation of the medal to him. War broke out with Spain, however, andthe program had to be abandoned. On October 6, 1898, the anniver-sary of Green's birth, the part of the celebration which included the

presentation was carried out.86The visit of Prince Henry of Prussia to the United States shortlyafter the turn of the century was also commemorated in medallicfashion. Three copies were struck in gold, and one of these was pre-sented to Prince Henry while the other two were given to the Metro-politan Museum of Art and to the Society. The medal itself was de-signed by Victor D. Brenner, and shows a bust of Prince Henry in

uniform as the obverse with a figure of Mercury riding on a cloud andbearing in his right arm fruits and flowers and in his left the caduceus.To the right are the shields of Hohenzollern Germany and the UnitedStates.87During the same year the Society invited Victor Emmanuel III,King of Italy and a renowned collector, to become an honorary mem-ber. The membership medal was struck in gold for presentation to theKing, and it was forwarded to him with appropriate notice of thehonorary membership. Victor Emmanuel accepted this honor gra-ciously, and a series of letters from Italian officials attest to the valuethat the King attached to it. Within a day or two of the receipt of thishonor the King received the U.S. Naval Attache, and in the course of the conversation, Victor Emmanuel "referred to his election to thisSociety and expressed the gratification he felt at the attention."88This activity in the production of medals was not limited to oc-

casional events, and plans were made to inaugurate a constant series.At the Annual Meeting of 1902, Bauman L. Belden took note of medalsalready issued by the organization and the fact that in 1901 PresidentZabriskie had favored a regular issue of medals after the fashion of thelimited editions put out by the Grolier Club.89 With the intent of be-ginning such a series, he moved that a Medal Committee of five mem-bers be appointed to draw up the necessary plans and gather data. The

resolution was adopted and the new Committee consisting of J. HullBrowning, Bauman L. Belden, Alfred J. Bloor, Charles G. Dodd, and



Medal Commemorating Opening of St. Luke's Hospital

Medal Commemorating Dedication of Grant's Tomb



Twenty-fifth National Conference of Charities and Correction Medal

William Rhinelander StewartVictor D. Brenner



1883-1905 133Edwin H. Weatherbee was appointed.90 The striking of the medal for Prince Henry of Prussia delayed consideration of a new series untilMay of 1902, when the Committee brought in its report favoring newissues in honor of John Marshall, Washington Irving, BenjaminFranklin, Commodore Vanderbilt, John Jay, and Edwin Booth. This

report was accepted and the Committee was discharged so that itmight be replaced by a new group which would carry out the proposalwith the provision that before any medal was issued by the Committee itwould have to be approved by the Society as a whole.At the Annual Meeting of 1903, the Committee requested and wasgranted broader powers and the right to proceed with the striking of a piece in honor of Americus Vespuccius.91 By the end of the year, the

piece itself had been issued from a design by Victor D. Brenner. Prob-lems arose with regard to the portrait used for Vespuccius as well aswith respect to the earliest map showing the application of his nameto the new World. Edward D. Adams, Chairman of the Medal Com-mittee, gave a complete report of the difficulties encountered and thesolutions finally decided upon, in his report to the membership in19o4.92 No sooner was this piece completed than work began on theproduction of future works of medallic art.Revival of interest in medallic art such as the world witnessed in thelate nineteenth century could not fail to be reflected in the activitiesof a numismatic organization. The production of medallic works in-creased greatly during the late nineteenth century as compared withall earlier periods. In 1898, President Zabriskie noted this increasedinterest and the number of specimens which the Society had but latelyproduced or was then in the process of issuing.93 In his Presidential

Address in 1899, Zabriskie went even further; he made an earnest pleafor the more prominent members of the community and the commer-cial and charitable organizations to commemorate events in their history by the production of medals. He also brought to the attentionof the Society the fact that the National Academy of Design proposedto erect a new building, and, he had been assured, would gladly havegiven room for a school for medal cutting. He looked forward to found-

ing a chair for medal cutting by the turn of the century, and endedhis plea with the question "May it not be left to our great country to



134 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASproduce a school of medalists combining the dainty taste and refine-ment of the modern French school with a breadth and strength all itsown, and typical of our own noble country?"94Apparently this broad plea for such a school of die-cutting was ig-nored by the membership in 1899, but it was repeated at greater length and in greater detail in 1900. At that Annual Meeting President

Zabriskie pointedly discussed the decline in the artistic merit of Ameri-can medallic productions. He argued vehemently for action:Let us not my friends, leave this room tonight until a Committee has been ap-pointed to take up this great work, which cannot fail to be the most important ever undertaken by this Society. It is often said, prove the use of a body and that bodywill receive the support of the intelligent and enlightened of the community. If togather together and preserve in our cabinets coins and medals is a thing well done,then to be the animating force from which shall spring the American medallic works

of the new century is a thing twice well done. Fortune is knocking at our door; willyou join me to advance what will, long after you and I are at rest, redound to thecredit of American medallic art, and keep in everlasting remembrance The Ameri-can Numismatic and Archaeological Society?95In consequence of this presidential plea a resolution was offeredsetting up a committee of seven to study the proposal and to report at asubsequent meeting. To this Committee Zabriskie appointed Wood-bury G. Langdon, Chairman; J. Hull Browning, Russell Sturgis, M.Taylor Pyne, Thomas Whittaker, Frederick E. Hyde, and J. KensettOlyphant.98Naturally enough the proposal rapidly became public knowledge.The Academy of Design pressed for prompt action, and the local pressmade inquiries about the new school. A new enterprise of this variety,however, required very careful preparation, and both the Academy of Design and the reporters were gently urged to be patient until finalarrangements were approved by the Society.97 By November of thatyear some of the preliminary steps had been taken. The National

Academy of Design had offered a room for the use of the school for apart of each day, and had appointed J. Caroll Beckwith, I. C. Nicoll,and Frederick Dielman as a Committee to work out the details withthe Society. It was proposed that the school start immediately on aschedule of three sessions a week with from eight to ten pupils and two



1883-1905 135instructors. One of these instructors was to teach the practical appli-cation of the art of drawing and design for dies, and the other was toinstruct in the preliminary steps connected with the modelling of designs and the incising of metals. An advanced course was envisionedfor the second year. The estimated cost for the eight months of the aca-demic year was $800, and since the money was to be raised by sub-

scription from among the members of the Society, the new project wasknown as the "SCHOOL FOR COIN AND MEDAL DESIGNING AND DIECUTTING, UNDER THE JOINT DIRECTION OF THE AMERICAN NUMISMATICAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OFDESIGN." Supervision was to be shared jointly by the Society and theAcademy. Steps were taken to carry the plan to completion.Barely two months elapsed before the necessary funds had beensecured and the School was opened. Charles J. Pike, a medallist andsculptor of some repute, was engaged to teach twice a week at the

munificent salary of fifty dollars per month.98 The pupils, however,were to meet and work every day of the month, and they paid a nominalfee of two dollars per month. Woodbury G. Langdon had offeredprizes totaling $100 for the best work done in the school during theacademic year ending in May 1901. Though the School began oper-ations with only two pupils, by the Annual Meeting of 1901 when thefirst report was made, the class had increased to nine." By May of thesame year, however, the trend had reversed itself. The number of pupils had at one point reached ten, but three had dropped from the

course. Nevertheless, the work was proceeding most satisfactorily andthe expenses were somewhat below what had been anticipated. Thethanks of the Society were therefore embodied in a resolution for Charles J. Pike.The next year was not quite as successful. Only four pupils, allwomen, attended the autumn sessions which were, at first, conductedin the afternoon. It was presumed that the drop in enrollment resultedfrom the fact that many would-be students were employed during theday, and in consequence the time of meeting was changed to the

evening. Two men now joined the class, but it is clear, despite the con-fident tones of the report of the Committee in charge of the School, thatthere was real disappointment among the members over the fate of



136 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASthe project. It was decided to add some instruction in the designing andmodelling of ornamental decorations and artistic jewellery in anattempt to attract students who might later be directed towardsmedallic art. Victor D. Brenner, a well known medallist who had beena pupil of the French artist Roty and was responsible for the designs

of several of the Society's medals, was chosen to instruct on twoevenings a week. Once again prizes aggregating $100 were donatedfor the best work.100 The report of the Committee closed with theobservation that "Sufficient funds have been voluntarily subscribed,by members of this Society, to guarantee the expenses of the class for two more years, in which time it should be possible to estimate theprobable results to be expected from this effort, which, at its initiation,

must of necessity produce small results, but which should, in time,develop great usefulness, as only one or two similar classes are in ex-istence in the entire world."101The School reopened in October 1902 for a new academic year withan enrollment of three students. By the following month it was six.Victor D. Brenner, however, resigned as instructor and was replacedby Charles J. Pike who had been the first teacher.102 Apparently theyears activities in this program were successfully completed by Maywith the award of cash prizes to the three best compositions.103 Allthree winners were women so it would seem as though the School hadits greatest attraction for the fair sex. In 1903, the program was con-tinued, but there was still no appreciable increase in enrollment. Therewas, however, the additional problem of finding a diesinker willingto teach the students. This difficulty was never adequately resolved.Finally Woodbury G. Langdon found, in May 1905, that he could no

longer continue as chairman of the committee charged with con-ducting the School. His resignation, which was accepted with an ex-pression of gratitude for the generosity and interest he had lavished onthe enterprise, made it necessary to review the entire project.104 InNovember of that year the decision was taken to discontinue theoperation. Throughout its short history the project had been a failure.Europe was experiencing a renaissance of the medal at the time, and

the foreign craftsmen coming to these shores were kept busy creatingnew medals for this country that were not stylistically to be differen-



1883-1905 137tiated from those abroad. Interest on the part of the native populacein this art was not sufficient to entice young men into the field wherethey would have been in competition with these skilled Europeans.Under these conditions it was useless to continue the endeavor. Thebalance, $203.94, remaining from the funds of the School, was applied

to the purchase of books, coins, and medals with the tacit approval of the subscribers.Even if the Society suffered a failure in its attempt to create anAmerican school of medal designing, it was eminently successful in re-presenting this country abroad. George. F. Kunz was honorablespecial agent to the commander general of the United States at theParis Exposition in 1900, and delegate to the International Congress

which took place in the same city at that time. Kunz therefore madeit possible for the Society to take part in that exposition in exemplaryfashion. As early as 1899 there were discussions within the Societyregarding the nature of the participation, and it was finally decidedto follow the plans for space utilization presented by Kunz and to givehim the authority to make the necessary arrangements. In December the Executive Committee of the Society dealt with the myriad prob-lems which were involved in this enterprise, and the official represen-tatives of the Society were named: J. Sanford Saltus, Augustus St.Gaudens, and George F. Kunz as well as Victor D. Brenner.105 Thenecessary space for the exhibit was secured in a most desirable locationat the Exposition. All things seemed to be progressing most favorablyuntil the evening of January 15,1900. At that meeting, when the agendacalled for a discussion of new business, Daniel Parish rose and objectedto the Society's participation in the Paris Exposition. He stated that

he had heard but little about the proposed exhibit before that eveningbut in the light of what he had heard he felt that "the Society could notmake a creditable exhibition" because "the medals produced in thiscountry could not compete with those of France in artistic merit."Drowne, who apparently favored the organization's participation,replied by stating that the exhibition was to be historical rather thanartistic and was to consist of types of the United States and Colonial

coins, medals illustrating American history, medals and publicationsof the Society, and insignia of military and patriotic societies, and that



138 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASit was thought that on these lines an interesting exhibition could bemade. Bauman L. Belden then attempted to push the matter to a votebefore there was further discussion. He submitted a resolution to theeffect "that the Society approve of the action taken by the ExecutiveCommittee in regard to the exhibit at the Paris Exposition and that the

Committee be authorized to continue the work." Zabriskie promptlyput the motion to a vote and declared it carried. Parish, a former Pre-sident of the organization, was apparently somewhat hurt by theprocedure initiated by Belden for he appealed from the decision of theChair. Zabriskie, however, was upheld by a vote of five to three withEdward Groh, the oldest member of the Society not voting.106Whatever slight opposition there was to the Society's participation

had now been overcome. On March 1, 1900, the glass enclosed exhibitwas put on view in the Society's rooms after which it was taken down,packed, insured, and shipped to Paris. In Paris it was the responsibilityof Brenner to see that the material was properly displayed.107Saltus later wrote to the Society from Paris to say that the locationgranted to the exhibit was a most desirable one, and that the displaywas very effective. It was judged worthy of an award of a medal anddiploma. 108 By January 1901, the collection had been safely broughthome to the United States and the pieces that had been borrowed fromvarious owners were returned. Resolutions expressing the thanks of theSociety to George F. Kunz, J. Sanford Saltus, Augustus St. Gaudens,and particularly Victor D. Brenner, who had attended the Society'sinterests in Paris, were adopted.109There was one significant outgrowth of the participation of theSociety in the Exposition Universelle as far as the internal develop-

ment of the organization was concerned. One of the features of thedisplay in Paris had been a collection of insignia of American militaryand hereditary societies. The Executive Committee in its report in1900 suggested that a portion of the Society's cabinet be devoted tosuch a collection. They were not prepared to expend funds to acquirethese medals, badges, and decorations, but they did feel that manysocieties would allow the insignia to be placed in a permanent collection.

Bauman L. Belden seized this suggestion and moved that a Committeeof three members, to be known as the Committee of Insignia of Ameri-



1883-1905 139can Military and Hereditary Societies, be appointed to carry on thework of building such a collection.110 This was accepted, and theCommittee began its operations, As was very natural the name wasshortened in the very next year to the Committee on American In-signia. The work of its group was eminently successful because at the

Annual Meeting in 1905, they reported that "The collection nowconsists of 134 specimens, is undoubtedly without an equal, and hasbeen acquired entirely either from the proceeds of donations of moneyor gifts of the specimens themselves."The donations to the Society in the field of American insignia areonly a particular instance of the generosity of members and friends of the organization. Parish Hackley Barhydt, who had become a member

of the Society in 1895, died two years later. He had not been one of themost active members, but apparently his love for the Society wasrecognized by his widow; Mrs. Barhydt donated $200 as a fund inmemory of her husband.111 By far the most important donation, how-ever, was that made by Edward Groh who in 1900 presented the firstsizeable collection to the Society. It was composed of 5,286 Civil War tokens. This magnificent collection was, of course, further enlargedas the years passed, and it formed the basis for George Hetrick's work on the subject. A vote of thanks was given Groh at the Annual Meet-ing in 1901. Even earlier, however, Groh had been honored by hiscolleagues in signal fashion by the presentation on December 6, 1900,of an inscribed sterling silver loving cup. Groh had been one of thefounders and one of the incorporators of the Society. His interest in ithad never lagged, and these symbolic acts of appreciation by themembers were well deserved. His death on January 2, 1905, was a great

loss to the Society.112If viewed in retrospect, however, of all the events in the two dec-ades from Anthon's death to 1905, one which passed relatively un-noticed at the time was of the most crucial significance for the futurehistory of the Society. On January 20, 1899, Archer M. Huntingtonwas elected to resident membership in the Society.113 He was still avery young man, not quite twenty-nine years old, but he had already

published A Notebook in Northern Spain and chosen Spanish letters as hisfield. As the adopted son of Collis P. Huntington, one of the builders of



140 OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW IDEASthe Southern Pacific Railroad, he was possessed of the means to carryon great enterprises, and within himself he had the vision and enthu-siasm to make use of his wealth and power for constructive purposes.His philanthropies were numerous and included the Mariners' Muse-um at Newport News as well as the five institutions which surround

Audubon Terrace in upper Manhattan; the Hispanic Society of Ameri-ca, the American Geographical Society, the Museum of the AmericanIndianâ€”Heye Foundation, the American Academy of Arts andLetters, and the American Numismatic Society. Huntington's connec-tion with all these institutions marked turning points in their individualcareers which were noted in their histories.114 The varied pursuitswhich he followed, however, never kept him too long removed from

his first love, Spain and Spanish culture. He produced numerous worksin his major field of interest and amassed excellent collections of docu-ments and Spanish artistry. It is perhaps best to let Huntington's in-fluence show itself in the results which he obtained in his various enter-prises.In 1899, as has been said, little notice was taken of the fact thatArcher Milton Huntington had become a member. Even in 1900when Huntington became a Life Member of the Society there was stillno evidence of an abiding interest. Then suddenly on December 16,1904, President Zabriskie presented his resignation to take effect thenext day. No specific reasons are given for this action, but almostcertainly it is to be connected with the failure of the plan to mergewith the New-York Historical Society.115 Huntington does not appear to have taken any part in that project nor was his name mentioned atall save in the membership rolls. Nevertheless at the Annual Meeting

on January 16, 1905, Huntington, a young man approaching hi&thirty-fifth birthday, was unanimously elected President, and a newera in the history of the Society began.



Medal Commemorating the Consolidation of the Municipalitiesabout the Port of New York-Charter Day

Medal in Honor of Prince Henrv of Prussia



Americus Vespuccius Medal

Paris Exposition Prize Medal



A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEelection of Mr. Archer M. Huntington to the Presidency of theSociety marked a turning point in its history. His acceptance in a letter from Palermo, Sicily, dated February 15, 1905, heralded the expansionof the horizons of the organization to the fullest. The vast means athis disposal enabled him to act as the motive force for a series of new

endeavors. In carrying out these projects he was ably assisted by theother members whose numbers were constantly increasing. At a specialmeeting on April 24th of that year it was announced that even thoughthe dispute regarding the merger had momentarily affected the mem-bership rolls adversely, thirty-nine new members had joined since thefirst of the year. This brought the number on the rolls to 219 whereasthe highest figure recorded previously had been 207.l

Another auspicious omen that augured well for the Society was theenlistment of Edward T. Newell among the active members. Newellwas probably among the thirty-nine who joined the organization inthe early months of 1905.2 It is quite apparent from the tone of hisletter of acceptance that he was not completely familiar with theactivities of the Society, but it is typical of him that he immediatelyjourneyed to New York from his home in New Haven to secure all in-formation that could be given by Belden. Within a month after his141



142 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEvisit Newell accepted the post of Assistant Curator.3 Poillon was at thattime serving as Curator.Edward T. Newell's career is so closely associated with the AmericanNumismatic Society that much of the history of the institution wouldbe incomprehensible without an understanding of his life. He was born

in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1886, and studied at Yale where he re-ceived an A.B. in 1907 and an A.M. in 1909. He was thus barely nine-teen years old when he joined the Society. Since he was a man of independent means he was able to devote himself almost exclusivelyto the pursuit of numismatics, and many of his researches were not onlypioneer efforts in difficult aspects of Greek and Hellenistic studies butthey have never been superseded. For these studies he was honored by

the many learned societies of which he was a member, and in 1918was the recipient of the Archer M. Huntington Medal conferred by theAmerican Numismatic Society. In 1925, his renown in the field wassuch that he received a medal from the Royal Numismatic Society for "distinguished service in numismatic research." The numerous booksand articles which flowed from his pen often marked milestones in thehistory of numismatics. In 1910, he was elected to the Council of theAmerican Numismatic Society, and, in 1916, became President. Heheld that post until his untimely death in 1941.4In 1905, the President was authorized to appoint each year an Asiss-tant Librarian, and at the suggestion of Bauman L. Belden, his author-ity to appoint a Committee on Numismatics and a Committee onLibrary was revoked. This proposal was made to streamline the or-ganizational structure of the Society so that all the offices and thevarious committees would have clearly defined functions which in no

way conflicted with one another. These two Committees obviouslyduplicated the work of the Assistant Curator and Assistant Librarian.Nevertheless the value of committees with specific tasks was evidentto the members from the excellent results obtained by the Committeeon American Insignia.5This was not the only phase of reorganization carried out in 1905.At the meeting in November, Belden as Recording Secretary noted

that the supply of printed Constitutions was exhausted and that therewere several changes which it might be wise to make before a new



1905-1915 143edition was published. Thereupon, Kunz suggested that a committee of five be appointed to revise the Constitution and By-Laws and to reportback. This proposal passed without difficulty, and Belden, Parish,Pryer, Drowne, and Weeks were chosen to carry out the recurringtask of revising the basic documents of the organization.

A new factor, however, was injected into the situation when the NewYork Law of 1848, under which the Society had been incorporated,was repealed, and the organization fell under the Membership Cor-porations' Law. This new governing ordinance did not provide for apossible change of the name of the corporation nor for the eliminationof any of its objects, though it was likely that the Legislature mighteventually make such changes. In Section 14 of the law there was

provision for a change of the number of directors or managers "by voteof the majority of its members present at an annual meeting," andSection 31 limited the total number of managers to thirty. Certificationof such a change had to be executed and filed by a majority of thegoverning board with the Secretary of State and the County Clerk.If any such changes were desired, the Constitution of the Society hadto be amended. In addition Section 8 of the law required that ninemembers and not seven be present to constitute a quorum. Chapter V,Section 1, of the By-Laws of the Society which required merely sevenmembers was therefore in need of amendment.6Of necessity, the Executive Committee, at its meeting of December 18,1905, approved a series of twelve amendments. Most of these werepurely formal in character, and save for the enlargement of the Exe-cutive Committee by three members and a proposal to name it the"Board of Managers," nothing of great consequence was effected. At

the Forty-eighth Annual Meeting in January 1906, all these changeswere unanimously adopted upon the motion of J. Otis Woodwardwith the substitution of the title of Council of Administration for Boardof Managers.7With these preliminary steps out of the way, the Society could turnits attention to its main objectives. The lease of the Society's rooms atthe Union Dime Savings Bank was in force until May 1, 1906, so pro-

vision had to be made for a permanent home. Mr. Huntington, asPresident of the Hispanic Society of America, had offered facilities in



144 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEthe building of that Society with the proviso that "if any serious oppo-sition to its acceptance by the (American Numismatic and Archae-ological) Society should develop the offer would be withdrawn." Thecommittee inspected the rooms offered and suggested that they beaccepted. At a meeting in late 1905 the proposal to move to the newsite was presented, but one of the members, Henry C. Backus, suggested

that the motion be laid over until the next meeting. His principalobjection was that it would not be advantageous to the Society tomove as far uptown as 155th Street. This objection, however, hadalready been foreseen, and it was pointed out that since the subwayline already extended far uptown the new quarters were only a shortthree minutes walk from the station. Weeks, Drowne, Parish, andBelden spoke against delay. A rising vote was given to move the Societyto the Hispanic Society building at I55th Street.8 Notice of termination

of the lease was given to the Union Dime Savings Bank.9The land on which the Hispanic Society of America had erected aMuseum and on which the American Numismatic Society was shortlyto construct a permanent home, was situated in a suburban section of New York City known as Audubon Park. The entire section had beenpurchased by John James Audubon, the ornithologist, in 1841, but ithad passed from his heirs into other hands before it was acquired byMr. Huntington, the founder and President of the Hispanic Society.Audubon's homestead, which was known as "Minniesland," the aviaryand the artificial lake for aquatic birds which he had constructed,were situated somewhat closer to the river, down the hill at the foot of the present I55th and 156th Streets. The center of interest on the Audu-bon estate lay somewhat to the northwest of the present sites of theinstitutions surrounding Audubon Terrace.By May 21,1906, the Society was safely ensconced in its new quarters,and a report was made:The moving of the collections and Library to this room has been safely ac-

complished without any loss or damage, though this room is rather small for theSociety's needs, our Curator has been enabled to so arrange the cabinets that our entire numismatic collection is accessible and, though many books and pamphletshave had to be stored away on the upper floor of this building, our Librarian hasenough shelf room at his disposal, in this room for all such books as are likely to beused while we occupy these quarters.



Archer M. Huntington (1907)

President 1903-1909Edward T. NewellPresident 1916-1941



Bauman L. BeldenHenry Clinton Backus

Reverend Milo H. GatesWilliam T.R.Marvin



1905-1915 145Our occupancy of this room, is, of course, only temporary. Work on our newbuilding has already been commenced, and if it is pushed forward and not delayedfor any cause, the building should be ready for occupancy in the neighborhood of six months.The fact that this room is small for the Society's needs should be an additionalincentive to us all to use our utmost endeavors to increase the building fund, both

by making our own subscriptions prompt and generous and doing our best toinduce others to do likewise.In actual fact, this anticipation for a six months residence at the His-panic Society proved to be overly optimistic. The Society was to re-main there until its Annual Meeting in 1908, and, of course, the prob-lem of space continued to be quite pressing. This was particularly truein the case of cabinet room for the constantly growing accessions.President Huntington took steps to alleviate this situation when he

placed a cabinet at the disposal of the Society, but this could presentonly a partial relief from the congestion in the trays. It was thereforedecided to purchase two new cabinets to serve during the period whenthe Society was temporarily housed in the Hispanic Society building.In recognition of the gracious efforts in behalf of the Society bytheir host, the Hispanic Society of America, the latter was unanimous-ly elected to Honorary Membership, in 1907, and at present theoldest honorary member still on the rolls. The Hispanic Societyresponded by electing the American Numismatic Society to HonoraryMembership.10In the report just quoted the Committee mentioned the constructionof a new building for the Society itself. On January 2, 1906, shortlyafter his return from Europe, President Huntington offered to presentto the Society a plot of ground on the north side of 155th Street, 325feet west of Broadway, with a frontage of fifty feet and a depth of 100 feet. This plot was to be used for a building for the Society subjectto certain conditions stated in the deed. It goes without saying that

this very generous offer was immediately accepted, and two days later the deed was delivered. News of this event was widely published in thelocal press with full descriptions of the proposed development of thearea known as Audubon Terrace as a cultural center. Designs of theproposed structure prepared by Charles P. Huntington, the architectwho had designed the building of the Hispanic Society, were published10



146 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEwith estimates of its cost which ran in the neighborhood of $50,000.uThe building itself may be described as one in the free classic style inharmony with the design of the Hispanic Society edifice. The facadewas adorned with a porch and a series of Ionic columns which supporteda cornice and ballustrade. It was a two story structure of reinforced

concrete which was completely fireproof. In the interior of the buildingon the first floor was to be found the exhibition room within a centralcourt surrounded by colonnades which supported a gallery lighted byskylights. The entire effect was very pleasing, but some time was toelapse before the actual structure was completed.At the Annual Meeting on January 15, 1906, President Huntingtonboldly sketched the broad outline for the future. He called for the

establishment of a Building Committee to carry out the work of con-structing the new home and pointed out the advantage of the localewhich adjoined the Hispanic Society of America. A new buildingwould give great impetus to the activities of the Society and wouldcreate a safe place for the display of its growing collections; and sincethe total estimated cost was only $47,000, it seemed both feasible andworthwhile. Proximity to the Hispanic Society would have the advan-tage of promoting co-operation between the two groups in their re-spective fields. Huntington also alluded to the fact that a great manyinstitutions of the character and size of the Society had paid staffs toaid in carrying out their work. This speech was a clear call to action. Itwas necessary to raise sufficient funds and to set up an organizationwhich would carry out the building plans. Belden immediately calledfor the approval of all that Huntington had said and for the appoint-ment of a Building Committee consisting of the President, Treasurer,

and five other members, "to solicit and receive subscriptions to theSociety's building fund, and to consider plans for said building, whichplans must be approved by the Executive Committee before adoption,superintend the construction of the building and report to the Society ateach regular meeting." He also proposed that "the Executive Com-mittee be given the power to authorize the proper officers of the So-ciety to make all necessary contracts; and that the erection of the

building may be commenced as soon as, in the judgment of the Exe-cutive Committee, the funds of the Society will warrant."12



1905-1915 147By March 19, 1906, it was reported that subscriptions received for the building fund were sufficient, in the judgment of the Council, towarrant the granting of contracts and the start of construction. At thatpoint, it was informally reported that subscriptions amounting to over $20,000 had already been received.13Some few weeks earlier President Huntington had sailed for Europe,

but before he left he had written to the members of the Council:New York 14 April 1906To the Members of the Councilof the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society:I take this opportunity before leaving you to write a few words of appreciationand thanks for the kindness you have extended to me in aiding me to fulfill whatwould otherwise have been a somewhat difficult position. I trust that you may not,in judging the results of the work of the Society for the past year, find me seriously atfault in any matter of importance to the welfare of the Society and its future. There

has been much to do, there is still more to be done, and our work can only be broughtto a just and perfect completion by a continuance of that feeling of sympathy andenthusiasm which you have all felt, and the impulse of which has kept the work freefrom any discordant note.The question before the Council now is one simple in itself and yet of the greatestimportance. We must raise a sum of money for the completion of our building, which,though small in itself, will only be had as a response to the earnest endeavor of our Council and members. I beg of you, therefore, to exert every effort toward theimmediate raising of this sum of money for it will be in many ways an exhibition of

strength. At this time when the Society is in need of this aid we shall learn who areits best friends. I shall hope to find this obstacle to our progress removed on my re-turn.Again congratulating you upon the admirable work you have accomplishedand myself upon the pleasure of having served with you in this work,I am, believe meVery respectfully yours(Signed) Archer M. HuntingtonThis call to the Council and members to carry on the task of build-

ing the home for the Society was immediately translated into further urgings by Belden that the committee in charge of the task shouldproceed with a schedule of Saturday meetings during the summer of 1906. Not all the members of that committee, however, were in a po-sition to comply.14 Nevertheless, substantial progress was made over the



148 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEsummer, and by November 1906 about half the funds needed had beensubscribed and the wooden forms and re-enforcement bars had alreadybeen put up to the second floor. At the Annual Meeting on January 21,1907, Mansfield L. Hillhouse, Secretary of the Building Committee,reported that a total of $23,985.08 had been subscribed for the fund.15Itjwas not expected that the building would be ready for occupancy

before 1908, but the need for more money was constant. There was anoticeable decline in the number and amount of the subscriptions,and it was finally necessary to borrow a considerable sum to completethe construction.The plan, as finally envisaged, was to hold the Fiftieth AnniversaryMeeting in 1908 in the new building. In December of 1907 the moveinto the new home of the Society was accomplished.16 Of course thiswas reported in the local newspapers as an event worthy of note. TheFiftieth Annual Meeting was duly held in the American Numismatic

Society Building on January 20,1908. It was opened with a short prayer by the Rev. Milo H. Gates, Vicar of the Chapel of the Intercession anda member of the Society. President Huntington in his address notedthe co-operative effort that had made the new advance possible:And this building is fortunately, and I say it with extreme pleasure, in no sensethe expression of the endeavor of a single man. It is the result of the earnest co-oper-ation of many of the members in a material sense, and of all of the members, I amquite sure, in a sense even higher; for I feel that no one who has joined this Societyand has thus contributed to its maintenance, can fail to have a deep appreciation

of the importance of the work to which he has lent his aid, and a justifiable civic pridein what has been accomplished. Fifty years is not too long a time to devote to theestablishment of a center for the encouragement of scientific study of an importantart, and frequently a much greater period has been required for a like result.17At the time of the Annual Meeting, however, the building was stillin the last stages of construction, and since the Society had actuallyreckoned its inception from April 6, 1858, it was decided that a formalopening with a special celebration should be held on April 6th.18 ByMarch it was clear that the still unfinished building would be inade-

quate for a really large celebration on that date. It was therefore decidedthat a special meeting should be called on that occasion, but that theformal opening would take place at a later date.



Exterior of Hispanic Society of America (1905)

Interior of Hispanic Society of America (1908)



Hispanic Society of Americaâ€”American Numismatic Society

Architect's Sketch of the American Numismatic Society Building (1905)



1905-1915 149The meeting of April 6th was held as scheduled, and on this oc-casion the gavel which is still used by the presidents of the Society waspresented to the organization by Sanford J. Saltus. Congratulatorymessages were received from various societies and individuals through-out this country and abroad. Among them were some from the Swed-

ish Numismatic Society, the Boston Numismatic Society, Dr. Asher D. Atkinson, the only living founder, Ex-Presidents Benjamin Bettsand Andrew C. Zabriskie, and W. T. R. Marvin, the editor of theAmerican Journal of Numismatics. The Swedish Numismatic Society alsoconferred its diploma of membership on President Huntington, Cor-responding Secretary Henry Russell Drowne, and Curator WilliamPoillon. Mr. Julius de Lagerberg, a member from Passaic, New Jersey,

and brother of Magnus Emmanuel Lagerberg, Corresponding Member of the Society in Stockholm, addressed the organization. The occasionwas crowned by an address by Belden detailing the inception andcompletion of the building and announcing that President Huntingtonhad made a gift of $25,000 to complete the payments for the building.19On May I3th, the first formal opening took place amid colorfulceremonies and in the presence of a distinguished audience. TheNational Sculpture Society was invited to the ceremonies and amongthose present were the well known sculptors, Daniel C. French, Her-bert Adams, F. Wellington Ruckstuhl, Enoch Wood Perry, Eli Harvey,Chester Beach, Victor D. Brenner, and Jules Edouard Roine.20 Theunique qualities of the new building attracted favorable attention fromthe press.21President Huntington had cancelled all the debts owed to him by theSociety for the construction of the building with the result that the new

edifice was debt free. The regular funds of the organization had beenuntouched by the tremendous expansion that had been carried out.New vistas lay open before the group both as a scholarly institutionand as one serving the general public. By November of 1908 the Coun-cil could report that "Visitors come to the building every day andreceive as much attention as it is possible to give them. The publicseems to be gradually finding out that there is a numismatic museum in

New York, and, while a considerable portion of the people do notknow what Numismatic means, we are certainly making a beginning



150 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEin giving them that information." One month later Huntington gavethe Society fifteen steel exhibition cases to line the wall of the gallery,and by 1909 the museum was well equipped to carry out its functions.Interest in the new home of the organization was reflected in the factthat the year 1908 witnessed the greatest number of accessions up to

that time.It was now possible for the Society to resume many of the functionswhich it had permitted to sink into neglect or had turned over to other organizations. It will be remembered that the American NumismaticSociety had founded the American Journal of Numismatics in 1866 andhad published it every month for four years, when it was taken over by the Boston Numismatic Society as a quarterly. In 1893, its publi-

cation was taken over by William T.R. Marvin of Boston, who had for many years been one of the editors, and he continued the journal upto 1907. In that year, when the construction of the building had al-ready begun, it seemed proper to the Council and advantageous to theSociety that something more than the annual Proceedings should bepublished regularly, and of course the Journal was the first thing thatcame to mind. A bargain was finally struck with Marvin whereby for $400 the Journal including all back numbers, all plates, cuts and other property, were purchased by the Society. Marvin, who had been anhonorary member of the Society for twenty-eight years, was to con-tinue as editor at a nominal salary, but the Council and the Societywere to have absolute control over the policies of the Journal. TheBoard of Trustees of the Hispanic Society at the same time offered toguarantee the cost of publication for five years on the basis of the pre-sent cost, and the offer was quickly accepted. Thus it was that, by 1908,

the American Journal of Numismatics, which had been begun by the Societyimmediately after the Civil War, once again became the official organfor its publications. There no longer seemed to be any reason for aseparate publication of the annual Proceedings, and they henceforthappeared in the January issue of each volume of the Journal as well asindependently.22Volume 41 of the American Journal of Numismatics, which was pub-

lished in 1907, was the last one printed under Marvin's ownership.This presented an opportunity for a short review of the history of the



1905-1915publication. The new issue practically ignored resumption of publicationand ownership by the Society. Only a short byline under the titleon the cover informed the public that the Journal was issued quarterlyunder the auspices of the founding organization. It should, however,be remembered that the Society had never lost complete contact

with the Journal, for Lyman H. Low, a member of the organization,had served in the capacity of co-editor from 1891 to 1907. The newissue of 1908 recorded that William T. R. Marvin was editor whileDaniel Parish, Jr., Lyman H. Low, and Bauman L. Belden comprisedthe Publication Committee. Marvin continued in the post of editor untilhis death in 1912, when that responsibility was given to a successionof chairmen of the Publication Committee. First, Charles G. Dodd heldthe post, then Edward T. Newell, and finally John Reilly, Jr.

In the later years of Marvin's stewardship there were continual dis-cussions about improving the character of the Journal. Various com-mittees were appointed to consider the wisdom of continuing it or tomake recommendations for its improvement. In 1912, after Marvin'sdeath, it was resolved that the Journal would be discontinued as a quar-terly, but it was to be issued as a single volume at the end of each year.To replace the Journal as a quarterly the Council decided to issuemonographs which would be distributed gratis to the members. In

December 1912, the first large volume of scholarly importance appear-ed. It was a book describing and illustrating a series of medals on im-portant events of the reign of Napoleon. These medals had never beenissued even though the designs were prepared. Ernest Babelon haddiscovered the records and designs of these medals, and he later pro-duced his Histoire Metallique de Napoleon le Grand, Empereur et Roi. Thisparticular volume was not made available to the members gratis.The Journal itself continued to be published for several years, though

it never generated quite the same degree of enthusiasm. In 1916, vol-ume 50 was issued. It was a useful work by Albert R. Frey entitledA Dictionary of Numismatic Names, Their Official and Popular Designations.The fifty-third and last volume in the series was issued in 1920 andcontained three articles, one of which was Newell's study, Myriandros-Alexandria Kafisson. Indices of the Journal through volume fifty and of Proceedings of the Society were included with volume fifty-one in 1918.



152 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEIn January 1913, the first, and it must be added, the only volume of the American Numismatic Series, was published. A total of 200 copies wereprinted of a book by Edgar H. Adams and William H. Woodin en-titled United States Pattern, Trial and Experimental Pieces. Even thoughthis series was not continued this one work was outstanding, for it has

remained a standard reference volume to the present day.At about this time the Society ceased publishing bulletins of its meet-ings, and instead inserted reports and notices in The Numismatist, ajournal published by the American Numismatic Association. TheSociety subscribed for 400 copies at an annual subscription rate of onedollar each, the issues being sent directly to the members. A specificprovision was made that granted the Society the right to cancel its

subscription at any time if The Numismatist should take part in anyfactional controversies.In 1914, The Electrum Coinage of Lampsakos by Agnes Baldwin waspublished in monographic form, and in 1915 it was followed by theMedals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society with anHistorical Sketch by Bauman L. Belden. This small volume of eighty-one pages contained photographs of all the medals issued by the Socie-ty up to that year.Only the major publications have been covered in the list givenabove, but in addition in 1908, a pamphlet of twenty pages by WilliamPoillon, the Curator, entitled Catalogue of the Collection of Gold Coins inthe Cabinet of The American Numismatic Society appeared, and two yearslater Victor D. Brenner's The Art of the Medal was published in pam-phlet form, to be followed shortly by another pamphlet by Charles DeKay entitled A Brief Word on Medals. A total of eight illustrated cata-

logues of exhibitions were printed by the Society, but these shouldbe discussed in conjunction with those exhibitions.One of the major continuing interests of the Society was the designof American coinage. It will be remembered that at one time the So-ciety had sponsored a contest for designs for the dollar. In 1905, theAmerican Numismatic Society was largely responsible for the adoptionof the St. Gaudens double-eagle and eagle designs as well as the Bela

L. Pratt half-eagle and quarter-eagle. It was, however, still evidentthat much remained to be done with regard to improving the artistic



1905-1915 153quality of the coinage. Thomas L. Elder suggested, in November 1906,that a committee confer with President Roosevelt regarding the ad-visability of adopting a more artistic coinage on the metric system.This committee, consisting of Elder, Kunz, Parish, Brenner, and S.Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., was duly appointed and set out to accomplishits task. The New York Times on February 24, 1907, took cognizance of

the new group in an article explaining its mission and stressing therole of Victor D. Brenner. Previously, the Times had called attentionin an editorial to the poor quality of our coinage as compared with thatof other major countries, and the New York Sun had mentioned that thePresident was consulting with a well known artist from New York.Obviously this was a reference to Brenner who had already designedand modelled the coins of Santo Domingo, and was certainly suitedfor. the task by reason of his training under the great medallists of

France. The long interview which Brenner granted to reporters toexplain his views of the problem was published in the Times article of February 24, 1907.All were not, however, uniformly agreed upon the necessity for achange. A rather cynical article appeared in the form of a dispatchfrom Washington in the New York Telegram of April 29th. Particular mention was made of the efforts of the American Numismatic Societyto do something to remedy the poor quality of the United States coin-age, but the tone of the entire piece was scoffing. This did not disheartenthe men who had been appointed to secure improvement. Elder, asSecretary of the Committee, dispatched a copy of the resolution of theSociety to President Theodore Roosevelt, and on August 1st thePresident answered in very gratifying terms:Oyster Bay, Aug. 1My Dear Mr. Elder:I am in receipt of your letter of July 29, with accompanying resolutions and havecalled for a report on them from the Secretary of the Treasury.

You will be pleased to know that we are now completing a new coinage of theeagle and the double eagle designed by St. Gaudens than whom certainly there isno greater artistic genius living in the United States or elsewhere.Sincerely yoursTheodore Roosevelt



154 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEThe President was certainly aware of the nature of the problem, andsincerely wished to take steps of a forward character. The entire storywas told in an article in the New York Sun of August 3, 1907. Further notices indicating that President Roosevelt supported the idea of achange appeared in the New York Times of August 5th and the NewYork Evening Post of December 5th. Elder himself, of course, was tre-

mendously pleased by the support given to the new proposal by the Sun,and he said as much in a letter to Drowne:Aug. 12, 07Dear Mr Drowne,Please get yesterday's Sun, if you did not see it, as it contains two or three goodarticles on coins, one on stamps, and many others on various branches of collecting.There is a good one on the St. Gaudens coins in which very flattering notice is givento our Society. I think we ought to make some acknowledgement to the Sun for thegood work of education that it has been doing in the last two years. It is without

question the best collector's newspaper in the United States, and at present is spend-ing, I figure from what Mr. Adams told me, about $4,000 a year on coins alone.They pay Mr. Adams $12 a column for such articles, and this is only the beginningof their expense in the matter. Any word of commendation tickles the newspapersimmensely and they will do anything for the numismatists if they recognize theefforts they are making along this line.Yours very truly,(Signed) Thos. L. Elder.Drowne apparently did write to the Sun as he had been requested.

This pleased Elder considerably and he was prompt to acknowledge it.At the same time he took the opportunity to mention some of the re-marks emanating from officials at the mint with regard to new coinage:August 17, 07Dear Mr. Drowne:I feel very much pleased that you wrote as you did to the Sun. I believe your letter will please them and help to keep up their interest in coins. One is disgusted withstatements accredited to the officials in regard to the new coins and in regard to thepresent United States coins. I see in the Post of yesterday an article in which a state-

ment like this is accredited to G. W. Marlor, deputy assistant United States Trea-surer. "Greater simplicity of design would render our coinage both more serviceableand more satisfactory. Many of the coins are almost completely covered with designs.It is not so important whether the lettering can be read or not, although it would



1905-1915 155seem as though that much ought to be assured. But such a design as that on our current quarter for instance is unpopular. Men who handle money simply do notlike it. It is hard to say just why, but it is a fact.(\\) If the design were simpler therewould be no objection to them at all." This is a sample of the ideas our financiers have onart. If the newspaper men would go to artists for opinions it would help the move-ment materially instead of hampering it as such statements tend to do. Anyhow thereare persons at the Phila. Mint who are very glad to find something to criticize inthe new St. Gaudens designs, as Mr. Barber who designed all the ugly things is stillon deck there, and was a member of the committee which rejected designs for anU. S. Dollar some years ago.Yours truly,Thos. L. Elder It apparently took some time to answer the letter from PresidentRoosevelt, but the Society did not drop the problem of artistic merit inAmerican coinage.23 Support came from other quarters. The ChicagoNumismatic Society passed a series of resolutions commending the

efforts of President Roosevelt in changing the designs of the gold coin-age.24 At the meeting of January 20, 1908, George F. Kunz, as Chair-man of the Committee on New Coinage Designs, reported that theCommittee had drawn up a plan for a contest among sculptors todesign new coins and had forwarded a copy of the proposal to Presi-dent Roosevelt suggesting its adoption. An acknowledgement of itsreceipt had been received about the time that the new ten and twentydollar gold pieces had appeared, and as a result the Committee hadtaken no further action. He recommended that a committee be ap-

pointed to draw up suitable resolutions to be sent to President Roose-velt regarding the efforts that he had already made to improve thequality of the coinage. This action would have paralleled that of theChicago Numismatic Society. The Society quickly took up the sug-gestion, and President Huntington appointed such a committee con-sisting of George F. Kunz, Thomas L. Elder, Daniel Parish, Jr.,Victor D. Brenner, and Milo H. Gates .Ân interesting sidelight to the efforts of the Society to improve thecoinage was also noted at that same meeting by Kunz. In a short

address at the end of the meeting he spoke of the problem affecting theissue of the new St. Gaudens' pieces and said:



156 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEThe members of The American Numismatic Society are all probably aware that,when the dies of the designs by our late member Augustus Saint Gaudens, wereprepared for the Eagle and the Double Eagle, and the models were submitted to theDirector of the United States Mint, the Mint authorities found it impracticable tostrike these coins in the relief in which they had been modelled by the sculptor, asthey had no edges and did not stack. However, dies were made from the models,

and the latter were then returned to the sculptor, who executed a new model. A diewas made from this second model, but it also was returned, and the gold eagle incirculation is from a third die.The Director of the United States Mint caused two Eagles to be struck from eachof the first two dies, on the condition that they should go to some NumismaticSociety. You are probably aware that the first Eagle was also in high relief.I take great pleasure in showing these coins this evening, and this pleasure isgreatly enhanced by my ability to inform you that, through the continued courtesyof our esteemed fellow member and Vice-President, Mr. J. Sanford Saltus, these

coins are presented to the cabinet of The American Numismatic Society, and willremain in its custody except for the brief time during which they will be placed onview at the Augustus Saint Gaudens Exhibition, to be held in the MetropolitanMuseum of Art from March 2 to April 2.As I have remarked, the authorities of the Mint stated that the first Eagle andDouble Eagle were of too high relief; they also lacked a proper stacking edge; thatis, they could not be stacked with the ease that is necessary when large numbers of coins are to be handled in banking. In addition to this, with our present system of minting, the cost of coining an Eagle is very great, and it is absolutely required that

the coins shall not vary in weight, although they are cut from plates of metal rapidlyrolled out. The Eagle must always weigh 258 grains, 900 fine, and the allowancefor waste is only one-thousandth, equalling one cent on each piece. The actual wastein the coinage of the Philadelphia Mint during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905,was only 6.97 percent of this allowance. Hence we find there are difficulties in exe-cuting artistic coins in high relief, such as the ancient Greek had abundance of timeto produce and ample time to admire.28In March 1908, Edward D. Adams was added to the Committee todraw up the resolutions for President Roosevelt after the group had

presented a draft which was referred back to them. There is, however,no record that these resolutions were ever really completed and for-warded to Washington. Nevertheless, in 1909, a new Lincoln head centwas issued to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Lincoln'sbirth. This new coin was designed by Victor D. Brenner, a member of the Committee. His initials appeared prominently on the 1909 issue,and after a hue and outcry they were removed. In 1918, these initials



American Numismatic Society Interior (1908)

American Numismatic Society Interior (1910)



John Reilly, Jr.Thomas L. Elder

Members of the New York Numismatic Club at Keen's Chop House, January 1908.American Numismatic Society Members present:

2. Joseph Mitchelson 9. Thomas L. Elder 3. Elliott Smith 11. W.H. Woodin5. A.R. Frey 13. George H. Blake6. Frank Higgins 14. Wayte Raymond7. Edgar H. Adams 15. Victor D. Brenner 8. D. Macon Webster 18. Bauman L. Belden



1905-1915 157were restored on the obverse side. This type cent was the first to havethe motto "In God We Trust."27 In 1864 this motto had been placedon the new two-cent bronzes. This bronze coin was the first issue to bear the motto, but it had been discontinued in 1873.The fight for a more artistically conceived coinage has continued

down to the present day. In the forefront of the struggle has been theAmerican Numismatic Society. According to a short note in the NewYork Evening Post of June 3, 1910, the Society had even gone to theextent of establishing a new category of Associate Membership at anannual fee of five dollars for the purpose of interesting the public at largein the problem. There is no record in the minutes of any major discus-sion surrounding the establishment of this new class of membership

in the new constitution of 1910, which will be discussed at a later pointin this chapter, but it seems obvious that there must have been avariety of factors influencing that decision. One of these motives maywell have been to spread interest in numismatics more generally.The efforts of the Society and its many friends were crowned withsuccess in 1913 when the first step was taken to redesign the fractionalcoinage. In that year a new design of the nickel prepared by James E.Fraser was issued by the Mint. This was the famous Indian head nickelwith the buffalo reverse. The Society had urged the necessity for change, and the government had finally recognized the wisdom of themove. A series of articles in the press throughout the country reflectedthe increased interest in the artistic quality of the new coinage.28 In1916, the new so-called "Mercury" head dime with the olive branchand fasces appeared. It was designed by A. A. Weinman, and theobverse was actually intended to be a Liberty head with wings on the

cap representing freedom of thought. In the same year Herman A.MacNeil designed the new quarter with a standing Liberty, and a newhalf-dollar by A. A. Weinman with a standing Liberty was also issued.The fractional coinage had now been completely redesigned in answer to the pressure of public opinion led by the numismatists and thesculptors in the country.During this period, of course, the Society itself was undergoing a

series of internal changes which made for ever increasing effective-ness of operation. First, there was the change of the name to its original



158 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEform, American Numismatic Society. This was done while the Societywas still in quarters at the Hispanic Society. The change was suggestedon November 19, 1906, by Huntington, Parish, Poillon, Belden, Weeks,Brenner, Dunscomb, Pehrson and Elder. So many men could hardlyhave sponsored a single move without having consulted upon it over

a period of time. Thus it appears that the decision to make the changehad been generally discussed and was approved. A legal notice to thateffect was published in the New York Times of May 27, 1907, and againin the same newspaper on June 3, 1907. The resolution effecting thechange had been passed at the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting in 19o7.29Of course, changing the name of the Society required a concomitantalteration of the seal of the organization. The version of the seal in

use prior to this date had the motto PARVA NE PEREANT on a scrollat the top and the name SOCI. AMERI. NUMIS. ET ARCHAEOL. aroundthe bottom while in the center were three upright bound sprigs of oak with two acorns. The new seal was designed by Victor D. Brenner,and it retained the same symbolism though the general effect wasmuch more graceful. In the more recent version the sprigs of oak aregently curved from the lower left and the form of the leaves is muchbetter. The lettering PARVA NE PEREANT appears in the upper leftquadrant and the words THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY are tobe found in the lower left quadrant.There is one semi-humorous sidelight to the process of changing thename of the Society. S. Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., a prominent attorneyin New York and a member of the Society, handled the legal aspects of the transaction.30 Dunscomb himself had suggested that there be anattorney of record appointed, and he, at the urging of the officers, had

undertaken the task.31 In 1909, Dunscomb neglected to respond to aregistered letter from the Society about the payment of his dues, and itwas promptly moved by Belden that his name be dropped from therolls. At the same time, however, Belden noted that he had received abill made out to him individually for legal services rendered to the So-ciety by Dunscomb for the amount of $125.00. It was moved andcarried that the bill should be ignored.

Shortly after the decision had been made to change the name of theSociety to its original form another organizational decision was made.



1905-1915 159According to the Constitution of 1905, there were to be four commit-tees: the Committee on American Medals, the Committee on AmericanCoins, the Committee on Foreign Coins and Medals, and the Com-mittee on Ancient Coins. By March of 1907, it was apparent that theother branches of numismatics should also be represented. Six new

standing committees were established: the Committee on ForeignMedals, the Committee on Oriental Coins, the Committee on MasonicMedals and Tokens, the Committee on Paper Money, the Committeeon Library, and the Committee on Building and Grounds.Further minor adjustments were made in the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society in 1908 and 1909, so that by 1910 it seemed wiseto reissue the Constitution with all its amendments in a revised form.

At the Annual Meeting held on January 17, 1910, the new Constitutionwas voted upon and accepted.32The year after the opening of the new building, 1909, witnessed achange that reflected the greatly increased activities of the Society. Itis true that in the past the organization had retained some employeesfor the usual household chores, but in that year the first of the technicaland administrative staff was added. At an informal meeting of theCouncil, President Huntington suggested that, to keep the affairs of theSociety in proper order and to superintend the new building, it wouldbe neccessary to have someone on duty each day. He also recommendedhaving an Assistant Curator who could devote some period of eachday to work on the collection under the direction of the Curator, aswell as an Assistant Librarian when such assistance became necessary.Huntington offered to guarantee to the Society an additional incomeof $4,000 per annum for five years to be expended for these offices.

Bauman L. Belden was appointed as first Director of the Society at asalary of $2,000 per year, and from $400 to $800 per annum was tocompensate Miss Agnes Baldwin who was to be appointed Assistant Cu-rator and to devote each afternoon to the work of the Society. The ex-act amount of Miss Baldwin's salary was to be left to arrangementsbetween Miss Baldwin and Belden. The remainder of the $4,000 was tobe used for other needs.

Belden's appointment, as is usual in such cases, was not unaccompan-ied by some misgivings on the part of the maintenance employee



160 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFENelson P. Pehrson. Pehrson was a man with a good deal of pride, andthe news of the appointment seemed to create in his mind the illusionthat he would now "have to play office boy and run errands." Beldenwas advised that it would be well "to handle him a little carefully atthe start so as to keep on the friendly side."33

Agnes Baldwin, who was retained at the same time, had joined theSociety in 1908. She had been educated at Barnard College and Co-lumbia University as well as at the American School of ClassicalStudies in Athens. She was destined to be very active in the affairs of the organization for the greater part of her life and to continue her studies abroad at the Cabinet des Medailles in Paris. Throughout her career she published widely on many numismatic subjects, and was

honored for her work by many institutions.34 Barely a month after entering upon her new duties, she was placed on a full time basis.In February 1909, Lyman H. Low informed President Huntingtonthat he intended giving up his business and that he would be willingto devote his time to the Society at a salary of about $3,000 per year.35This offer, however, was declined because the Society was not then ina position to assume the additional expense. Weeks then proposed thathe would devote his evenings to the work of the library at a compen-sation to be agreed upon and the figure of $1200 per annum was sug-gested. This led to some discussion during which Weeks retired from theroom, and the decision was reached to let the matter lie over until thenext meeting. It was later agreed that due to lack of funds, the offer could not be accepted. It was, nevertheless, decided that "with a viewto the recognition of the time and work devoted to the library, by our esteemed Librarian, Mr. William R. Weeks, and his unfailing interest

in the Society, two hundred and fifty dollars be appropriated andpresented to him as a token of esteem on the part of the Council."Such matters as leave to study abroad, vacations, and committeework on the part of the staff, were treated in the Council meetingsduring March and April of the year 1911. Agnes Baldwin had appliedfor a leave of absence in 1911 to study at various museums abroad, butat the time only three weeks were granted to her. By April 1912, this

situation had changed radically, and Miss Baldwin was granted theremainder of the year with full pay to carry on her researches in



Howland Wood as a young manAmerican Numismatic AssociationConvention (1910)

Farran ZcrbeNew Seal of The American Numismatic Society



International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals

Medal of the International Medallic Exhibition



1905-1915 I6IEurope. By that time she had already demonstrated her ability tocarry out all the tasks required of her by preparing a Catalogue of theInternational Exhibition of Contemporary Medals. This exhibition will bediscussed later, but a congratulatory resolution was passed by theCouncil for Miss Baldwin's work.36

In 1910, William R. Weeks registered a formal protest that there wasno one in actual charge of the Library during business hours to insureproper care in the handling of the books and periodicals as well as thecompletion of the work of classification of the pamphlets. Some monthslater, in January 1911, it was moved and carried that a Librarian beemployed at a salary of $1,000 per year and a stenographer at $8.00per week. At the same time Pehrson, the janitor, was made night

watchman and a new janitor was employed for the daytime. Apparent-ly it was impossible to retain a Librarian for any length of time at thefee set, and as a result it was decided on March 9, 1912, that the officeitself should be abolished.37 Correspondence between Sydney P. Noeand William R. Weeks at a later date shows quite clearly that Weekswas driven from the office of Librarian in 1911, very much against hiswill. In his letters to Noe, Weeks indicated that there had been somebad feeling generated over his removal, but he never went into detailabout basic causes. The fact that Weeks was removed from the officeof Librarian and from the Council at one stroke, that no complaintsor charges were ever levelled against him, and that in March of thatsame year he had been signally honored by the Council, leads tosuspicions regarding the nature of the action against him. Weeks him-self, in one of his letters to Noe says, "I could not obtain the least ex-planation of the charges, if any, against me."38 There is a mystery here,

but it is no longer possible to discover what actually transpired.Of course the abolition of the office of Librarian led to questionsof a constitutional nature regarding the competence of the Society,which was incorporated, to eliminate one of its offices. Since theLibrarian was merely an employee it was finally affirmed that suchpower resided in the hands of the Society.39 The care of the librarynow devolved for a short period of time upon the staff of the Society

with whatever assistants might be employed for specific tasks. InApril 1912, a resolution was adopted which stated "That, pending the11



162 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEreconsideration of the method of arrangement of the numismaticcollection and the library of the Society, the office of Curator, as al-ready decided in the case of the Librarian, be declared vacant." Barelytwo weeks later, on April 27th, Alexander Duncan Savage was em-ployed to catalogue and arrange the library until January 1, 1913, at

a salary of $1,000. Apparently Savage was given no title, and hemerely functioned in that one capacity without becoming a permanentadjunct to the staff.Perhaps one of the reasons for the seeming inability of the Societyto get a workable organization lay in the new Constitution which hadbeen promulgated in 1910. After the regular meeting of December 1909, President Huntington had resigned from the Presidency and had

been elected Honorary President. Under the new Constitution therewere no longer any officers known as President or Vice-President. Theauthority resided in a Council of fifteen members elected for termsvarying from one to five years. There were to be five Governors, aSecretary, a Domestic and a Foreign Corresponding Secretary, and aTreasurer.40 From that point on the clear lines of authority appear tohave been severed, with resultant confusion. Amendments and changeson minor points were proposed and carried, and a continual processof change ensued before the members and staff became accustomed tothe new forms and procedures required by this novel arrangement.By 1912, however, many of the difficulties had been worked out, andwhen the question of the appointment of a new Curator arose, verycareful consideration was given to the appointment. Finally, in Decem-ber of that year the Secretary was instructed to ascertain whether Howland Wood of Boston would accept the position and at what com-

pensation. Wood had been actively identified with numismatic studiesin this country since 1900. He had been a contributor to many period-icals and had taken a great interest in the American NumismaticAssociation, the Boston Numismatic Society, and the publication of The Numismatist. He was married to Elizabeth Eliot Marvin, thedaughter of William T. R. Marvin who had edited the American Journalof Numismatics.93â€¢

Belden promptly wrote to Howland Wood, and after some cor-respondence between them and a meeting between Wood and the



1905-1915 163members of the Council, arrangements were finally made to havehim come to New York at an annual salary of $2,5OO.42 A month later Wood assumed his new position.43This, however, was not the last addition to the staff. It must beremembered that the Society had been functioning without an active

Librarian during the period after 1912. In 1915, this post was finallyfilled by the appointment of Sydney P. Noe. In the course of the yearsto follow, Mr. Noe was to continue his active interest in numismaticsand to serve as Secretary of the Society, Editor, Curator, and Chief Cura-tor. His association with the Society to the present moment has con-tinued to benefit the organization.The Society now had a full complement of staff personnel to carry

out its many functions, and it operated efficiently throughout theperiod. Even the resignation of Bauman L. Belden as Secretary in1916, after eighteen years in that office, was not marked by any diffi-culties.44 The same was true of the resignation of J. Sanford Saltus fromthe Council later in the year.With the new building and growing staff, it became possible toundertake new responsibilities towards the pursuit of numismatics inthis country. The years between 1906 and 1916 were particularly fruit-ful in the number of exhibitions held and medals struck by the Society.These various activities stimulated public interest in the study andcollecting of coins and medals. As early as 1905 the Society had re-ceived a proposal from the Pennsylvania Society that the New York body should co-operate with certain other institutions of this City tocelebrate the bicentennary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin.45 Themedals and coins relating to Benjamin Franklin were put on exhibition

by the Society, and at Poillon's suggestion the members were requestedto exhibit appropriate pieces from their own collections.46After the building had been erected, the pace of activities was great-ly accelerated. On invitation from the Society, the American Numis-matic Association held its annual convention for the year 1910 in NewYork and made use of the facilities put at their disposal by the Society.Bauman L. Belden was selected to greet the delegates to the conven-

tion, and cards were sent to all members of the Society inviting themto meet the members of the Association. The opportunity was also11*



164 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEtaken to distribute Weeks' History of the American Numismatic and Archae-ological Society, and copies of the Constitution and By-Laws to the dele-gates. An elaborate program was arranged for the benefit of thevisitors.47The local press was very much struck by the assemblage of so manypeople interested in the pursuit of numismatics and coin and medal

collecting.48 Taken as a whole the meeting was a great success, andmany of the overtones of that convention, neglected in the officialpublication and the accounts given in the press, have been preservedin the correspondence of the Society during the period. It is importantto note, however, at this point that good feeling pervaded the re-lationship between the Society and the American Numismatic Asso-ciation. The close connections which resulted from the fact that somemembers of the Society were also members of the Association werefurther strengthened when in February 1913, as has been mentioned,

the Council of the Society decided to subscribe to 400 copies of TheNumismatist which would be sent on a monthly basis to every member.As a result of the proclivity to internecine feuding which was present inthe Association, Belden found it necessary to state in his letter to TheNumismatist that,It is understood that the Numismatist is the official organ of the AmericanNumismatic Association, and is published in the interest of said Association andnot any faction of its members, and I am directed to inform you that in case theNumismatist should take part in any factional controversy either between the Asso-

ciation and any other organization, or between members of the Association, thisSociety will immediately cancel its subscription and cease to publish its reports in theNumismatist.4*In 1909 an invitation was received by the Society to be representedat the International Numismatic Congress to be held in Brussels in1910. This was the fourth of these congresses; the first had been heldin Brussels in 1891, the second in Paris in 1900, and the third in Romein 1903. In response to this invitation it was decided that PresidentHuntington should appoint one or more delegates. An exposition was

held in Brussels to coincide with the gathering of numismatists, andthis was reported in the New York Times of June 12, 1910. Huntington



View of Exterior of American Numismatic Society Joined toHispanic Society of America

Medal of the International Congress of Numismatics and Art

(Brussels, 1910)



John Paul Jones Medal

Membership Pin



1905-1915 165himself was an Honorary Member of the Congress from the UnitedStates and he served as its Vice-President. Wood, of course, enjoyed aposition in relation to the Congress because of his connection with theAmerican Numismatic Association, and the same was true for severalother members of the Society.50 There is no record that the Society or

any of its delegates took particularly active roles in the deliberationsof the Congress, but the medal that was struck in commemoration of it and bearing the portrait of Babelon was issued under the auspices of the Society and offered for subscription to the members in 1912.The opportunity available to the Society with the opening of thenew building was not permitted to remain unused. In March 1909, itwas reported that nearly two thousand people had visited the building

and inspected the coins and medals that had been on exhibition in theprevious month. In March itself the International Exhibition of Medallic Art was opened at the Society's building. This was a periodof quickening interest in medallic art in America as shown by thechanges in the coinage which were carried out at that time and thelarge number of medals issued throughout the country. Rather lengthydescriptions of the exhibition grounds and the pieces appeared in thelocal press.61 It was probably the largest exhibition of objects of numis-matic interest ever held in New York City, and it opened for privateviewing on March 9th and to the general public on March I2th. Theexhibits were in some measure loaned by foreign and American sculp-tors and medallists as well as by many of the collectors of prominence.The Hispanic Society had erected a temporary stucco building whichfilled the gap which existed between its own museum and that of theNumismatic Society. This was the main exhibition hall, and approxi-

mately 2400 pieces were arranged in these as well as in a portion of thecases on the main floor of the Society's building. The remaining caseson the main floor and all the cases on the second floor of the Society'sbuilding were used for the display of objects from the Society's col-lections. The loan exhibition consisted of works of contemporary me-dallists with the single exception of one case of medals of the Renais-sance loaned by J. Pierpont Morgan. Three separate catalogues were

prepared for this exhibition by Agnes Baldwin. The first dealt with thecoins, the second with the older medals and jetons, and the third



166 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEdescribed the works of the contemporary medallists which were ondisplay. As of March 2oth, when the exhibition had been open for only eight days, the attendance was reported as 3,240 in the Annexand 2,454 in the Society's building. By the final day of the display,April 1st, a total of 5,547 people had visited the showings.

The invitation which had been sent to the contributors had con-tained the announcement by the Exhibition Committee that thesculptor whose exhibit might be deemed to have been most successfulby the Committee of Award should be named as CommemorativeMedallist for the year 1910 and receive a commission for a medal, theoriginal models and dies of which were to become the sole propertyof the Society. The cost of this medal was not to exceed $3,000. The

Committee of Award was certainly a distinguished one, includingEdward D. Adams, A. Piatt Andrew, Director of the United StatesMint, John W. Alexander, President of the National Academy of Design, Herman A. MacNeil, President of the National Sculpture So-ciety, Herbert Adams and Daniel Chester French, former Presidentsof the National Sculpture Society, and Thomas Hastings, a well knownarchitect. These men awarded the prize to Godefroid Devreese, aBelgian medallist of great renown. Devreese designed a commemora-tive medal for the Exhibition which was struck in bronze for the So-ciety's cabinet, but which it must be admitted is not among his bestworks.52At the conclusion of the exhibition the objects that had been onloan were packed and shipped to the respective visitors. The fate of those medals which had been purchased by the Society at the Exhi-bition and which the Customs regulation required to be shipped

abroad for reimportation and a few pieces from the English exhibitorsis of great interest. These objects were shipped aboard the ill-fatedS.S. Minnehaha which was lost off the Scilly Islands, and they werereported as a total loss. Happily the pieces were insured, and the ex-hibitors had been paid for the medals already purchased so that all thathad to be done was to collect from the insurance companies and replacethese medals. Of course the English exhibitors were reimbursed for their

losses.53 By December of the year in which the Minnehaha was lost thefirst consignment of replacement medals and plaques was received



1905-1915 167from Paris, as well as all but one from Germany and all from Belgium.The final step in the history of the International Exhibition of Contem-porary Medals was taken when Agnes Baldwin, in 1911, published avery ornately illustrated revised catalogue of the exhibition.54 A com-plimentary copy was sent to each exhibitor.

One exhibition held by the Society during this period of vigorousactivity is particularly interesting because it is totally removed fromthe field of numismatics. At the Annual Meeting in January 19n, Mr.Huntington, as Chairman of the Committee on Papers and Exhibitions,announced that arrangements were being made for an exhibition of the work of Prince Paul Troubetzkoy, one of the foremost Europeansculptors. It was originally planned to hold this exhibition in the tem-

porary building within which the main portion of the InternationalExhibition of Contemporary Medals had been held, but it was foundimpossible to get just the right light to show the bronzes to the besteffect. The Hispanic Society offered to place its main hall at the dis-posal of the American Numismatic Society, and so the exhibition washeld there.55 Huntington at the same time presented a portrait of Troubetzkoy done by Sorolla y Bastida. For this, of course, he re-ceived the thanks of the Society, and the portrait until very recentyears hung in the office of the Secretary.Troubetzkoy's sculptures56 show characteristics all their own thatattracted comment in the press. His fashionable women stood extreme-ly tall and thin with swan-likes necks. The exhibition was popular fromthe very start; on February 8, 1911, a private viewing was held andthen it was opened to the general public. Within the first week it wasattended by 5,213 visitors, and by the time that it closed on March

12th a total of 23,665 persons had come. During the same period8,262 visited the Society's museum. But the closing of the exhibition atthe Hispanic Society was not the last step because the art works weresent to the Albright Art Galleries in Buffalo for display. Of course acatalogue of the sculpture was prepared and issued. This cataloguecontained an introduction by Christian Brinton which not only toldof the life of the artist but also gave a critical analysis of his work.57

In 1912, the Society presented an exhibition of private gold coinswhich had been struck in California, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado.



168 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEThis was duly reported in the local press.58 Later in the same year medals, plaques, and drawings by Giovanni Cariati were put beforethe public through the agency of the Society. Belden apparently dida great deal of the planning for this particular occasion; the exhibitionbegan with a private showing on November 16, 1912, and was opened

to the public the following day.59Cariati, who had shown promise as a poet, painter, illustrator, andsculptor, had become interested in the art if the medal about 1903,while still a very young man. He had risen gradually in the ranks of contemporary medallists and had shown his works at the Esposizione"Pro Museo Segantini," Galleria Grubicy, Paris, and at the Salon in1906. In 1909, a special exposition of his works was held at the Espo-

sizione Italiana at Milan, and a few of his works had appeared at theInternational Medallic Exhibition of the American Numismatic So-ciety. Cariati had just come to reside in New York and this was thefirst time that any considerable number of his works had been put onexhibition in this country. His works had been published in a seriesof catalogues, but he must have been relatively unknown to the NewYork collectors.60 Consequently, it was at the urging of Cariati himself that this particular exhibition was held, and it was distinctly under-stood that he was assuming all risks and expenses involved in thetransportation and handling as well as the care of the display.61Cariati, however, was unable to complete his preparations by thetime set for the exposition, and the opening was delayed until De-cember nth. A catalogue of the entire exhibition was issued by theSociety in the same format as the one for the Troubetzkoy display.62Naturally, a notice of the exhibition appeared in the local press, and

since Cariati had come from Italy so recently his display formed thesubject of a long article in the local Italian language press.63In November 1912, Dr. George F. Kunz, on behalf of the AmericanScenic and Historic Preservation Society, of which he was President,suggested an exhibition in the Society's building of medals and other objects of interest relating to Joan of Arc. This proposal was accepted,and the display was scheduled for early in the next year. The expo-

sition was actually a joint enterprise of the Joan of Arc Statue Com-mittee for The Museum of French Art, The French Institute in the



1905-1915 I69United States, and The American Numismatic Society. Engravings,drawings, photographs, stamps, letters, statuary bronzes, coins, andmedals, as well as some books and pamphlets were displayed. A com-plete catalogue of the exhibition was printed including the intro-ductory remarks made by Kunz, C.B. Stover, Commissioner of Parks

of New York City, and many others including an address read for theFrench Ambassador.64As originally planned the exhibition was to be open until February7th, but because of its importance and popularity, it was slightly pro-longed. The displays, of course, came from a number of differentsources, and Saltus seized the opportunity to send 221 medals of Saint Joan to the Society as a gift.65 Such an exhibit had great public

appeal and the newspapers devoted considerable space to it.66 Shortlyafter the exposition closed in New York the objects from the Society'sown collection were loaned to the Brooklyn Museum, and later in theyear to the Boston Public Library for still another display.The most interesting feature about this exhibition was the fact thatit was so intimately connected with the work of the Joan of Arc StatueCommittee. Some three years earlier a group of prominent citizens hadjoined together for the purpose of erecting such a statue to comme-morate the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of St. Joan. Thearrival of that quincentenary, of course, had stimulated a great deal of artistic work relating to her life. Miss Anna Vaughn Hyatt, who later became Mrs. Archer M. Huntington, was one of the well knownsculptresses who commemorated the event. In January 1913 her equestrian statue of the Maid of Orleans was displayed in the Salondes Artistes in Paris.67 Miss Hyatt was chosen to design and to execute

another equestrian statue of St. Joan leading her forces, to be placedon an eminence overlooking the Hudson Valley at Riverside Driveand 93rd Street. Stone from the Rouen dungeon in which Joan of Archad been imprisoned was purchased and brought to this country byJ. Sanford Saltus, John W. Alexander, and George F. Kunz to serveas the pedestal for the magnificent statue.68The participation of the American Numismatic Society in the quin-

centennial celebration of the birth of the Maid of Orleans did not endwith the exposition and the prominent part played by certain members



170 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEin the erection of the statue. A short glance into a later part of thehistory of the Society reveals a beautiful medal designed by AnnaVaughn Hyatt which shows the figure of St. Joan in armor on theobverse and her banner followed by seried penants on the reverse.69At the suggestion of the Committee on Papers and Exhibitions, an

exhibition of United States and Colonial coins was held at the Society'sbuilding for a month beginning in January 1914. Preparations startedthe preceding October, and many of the finest collections in the countrywere represented as well as a selection of pieces from the Society'scabinet. Extra help was employed in the preparation of the catalogueof the exhibition which was well illustrated.70 In 1908, the Society hadissued a medal in honor of Archer M. Huntington, which will be

discussed at a later point in this chapter. A copy in bronze was presentedto each of the collectors who displayed pieces at this exhibition. Inaddition 1000 copies of the catalogue were printed, and a copy wassent to every exhibitor. The press throughout the country recorded thisdisplay which dealt with a topic of such general interest as Americancoinage.71One month later still another exposition was held, this time relatingto paper money. The exhibition was to last from March 26 to May 15,1914. On this occasion there was no attempt made to prepare a cata-logue, but once again the individual exhibitors were presented withbronze copies of the Huntington medal.72 The widely scattered no-tices in the press which continued to appear even after the exhibitionhad closed may be taken as a measure of its success. It is significant thateven though an examination of those press reports shows that the entireprogram enjoyed great success, there was a gradual decline in the time

devoted to this subject by the Council and the general membership.In some cases, such as the Mexican Coin Exhibit which was also heldin 1914, we would be completely ignorant of the very existence of thatevent if it were not for the newspaper accounts. There is no evidencethat this exhibition ever was made the subject of a discussion or a re-solution. Apparently it had become a matter of mere form to hold andto prepare these displays. In any event there can be no doubt that the

Mexican Coin Exhibit was clearly overshadowed by one on contem-porary Paper Money.73 The exhibit of Indian Peace Medals in 1915



1905-1915 171is known only from a series of newspaper articles.74 The same is true of the exhibition of Bismark medals held that year.75The years from 1914 to 1918 were those of the World War. Virtuallyall the world stood arrayed in arms on one side or the other, and every-body was affected by the turn of events on the battlefield. Mr. and Mrs.

Huntington were caught in Europe at the start of the war, and to their great embarrassment were arrested by the Germans and held as spies.Apparently the Germans conducted a most thorough search of thepersons and effects of the Huntingtons and managed to discover aseries of maps which they considered quite compromising. The prob-able explanation for the existence of these maps in Huntington'spossession was his membership in the Aero Club. At any rate after a

great deal of discomfort Mr. and Mrs. Huntington were released bythe Germans.76 The Society, of course, held exhibitions which wouldcater to the public interest in the warring powers. During the periodof American neutrality there was first an exhibition of the medals andinsignia of bravery of the nations at war, and later another displaywhich was devoted to American decorations from the beginning of theRepublic down to 1915.77 These were entirely in keeping with thespirit of the times and were well attended. A spate of publicity followedin their wake.During the period covered by this chapter, the Society was instru-mental in the production of medallic works of art as well as in their display. Even in 1905 a suggestion had been put forward to have theorganization produce a medal in honor of the unveiling of the equestrianstatue of George Washington placed at the entrance to the new Brook-lyn Bridge. Nothing, however, came of this proposal though the matter

was discussed with the committee in charge.A year later the United States Government sent a naval squadron toFrance to return the remains of John Paul Jones for permanent inter-ment in a specially constructed crypt at the U.S. Naval Academy inAnnapolis. The Committee on the Publication of Medals felt that theoccasion was important enough to warrant deviating from the chrono-logical scheme for the issue of historical medals. The plan for such a

medal was carried out with dispatch, being facilitated by the fact thatVictor D. Brenner had taken up residence in Paris during the period



172 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEwhen the international ceremonies took place. His services were em-ployed, and with a fine sense of propriety the actual striking was doneat the Paris Mint. The medal was issued in the form of a plaquette,the obverse of which was particularly successful and pleasing. Anoriginal bust done from life by Jean-Antoine Houdon which was

owned by a member of the Society served as the model. Above theinscription JOHN PAUL JONES /. 1749.1792. the head of the herowas beautifully worked in high relief with a laurel branch extendingdiagonally behind it and a small shield with an anchor in the lower left field. The reverse showed Fame blowing a trumpet and proclaim-ing, in the words of the Special Ambassador of the United States, whenformally delivering the remains of John Paul Jones to the American

Government, AMERICA CLAIMS HER ILLVSTRIOVS DEAD. These wordswere inscribed across the top of the field. In the background the domeof the chapel of the Naval Academy could be faintly seen while in frontthere was the scene of the funeral procession of July 6, 1905, when thegun-carriage bier, decorated with the flags of France and the UnitedStates, was drawn through the avenues of Paris by the horses of theFrench artillery and escorted by sailors from the visiting squadron of the American Navy.A single gold copy of this medal was issued for a prominent member of the Society and 100 others were struck in silver with yet another 100in bronze. This gold piece as well as many of the other unique goldcopies of medals issued by the Society later appeared in the J. P. Mor-gan Collection, and it may be presumed that they were struck for him.Only the single gold piece was not struck at the Paris Mint. A copy insilver was presented to General Horace Porter, a former Ambassador

to France, and another to the United States Naval Academy. Of course the Society itself placed one bronze piece and one silver in itsown trays. The remainder were offered for subscription in December 1906 at a price of $10 for the silver and $8 for the bronze specimens.7*This plaquette was the thirteenth medal which owed its existenceto the Society, and it inaugurated a period of great medallic production.By 1913, the number of medallic pieces issued by the Society had been

doubled. More important, however, than the mere number of themedals is the artistic merit of many and the fact that their issuance by



Medal Commemorating Drake's Landing on the West Coast of America (1579)

Archer Milton Huntington Medal



Va

â€”

oz

â€¢as



1905-1915 173the Society brought certain questions to the fore. The monetary valueof many of the medals was dependent upon the fact that only a limitednumber had been struck, and the dies had then been boldly cancelledby a deep chisel mark across the face. For the collector such cancellationwas very desirable because it enhanced the value of the specimens in

his cabinet, but for the artist it was more in the nature of sacrilege. Vic-tor D. Brenner took this matter up in connection with the John PaulJones medal upon his return from Europe in January, 1907. At thattime he wrote to the Society and proposed that in the future all diesbe kept in a cabinet without mutilation to any of the surfaces but witha label attached indicating when and how many pieces had been struck from the die. He felt that this would afford sufficient protection to the

subscribers and at the same time preserve the work of the diesinker unimpaired for the examination and study of those who might beinterested in his technique and skill.79 At the Annual Meeting in 1907,Brenner put his proposal in the form of a motion. Weeks, with a deeper sense of the feelings of the collector, amended the resolution so that allmedals struck by the Society were to be cancelled in some minor waythat would not destroy their artistic merit, and the resolution passedin that form. Since that time, however, only a very few of the diesof the Society's medals have been cancelled in any way. The vastmajority of the dies have simply been retired to the trays of the col-lection.Even before the planning for the John Paul Jones medal was begun,a project involving the production of a medal in honor of Sir FrancisDrake had been undertaken. By November 1905, the Chairman of theCommittee on Publication of Medals stated that it was the intention

to publish the Drake medal in the fall or early winter, and a medal for John Paul Jones in the spring. In actual fact, as we have seen, the JohnPaul Jones medal was issued earlier and appeared in 1906, while theDrake piece was not struck until 1907.The Drake medal itself is worthy of description. It was designed andexecuted by Professor Rudolf Marshall, Royal Medallist to the Courtof Austria. It was clearly understood that historical accuracy should

dominate artistic sentiment in his design. As in the case of the JohnPaul Jones medal, one specimen was issued in gold and 100 each in



174 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEsilver and bronze. The striking was done at the Austrian Mint inVienna, and the individual copies were numbered serially.On June 17, 1579, Sir Francis Drake cast anchor and landed on thePacific Coast of North America on the shore of what is now known asDrake's Bay, near the 38th parallel of latitude in northern California.

He claimed possession of the country for the crown of England in thename of Queen Elizabeth and called it "Nova Albion." Thus it cameabout that Drake had actually located a "New England" on thePacific Coast some forty years before the Pilgrim Fathers establishedtheir permanent settlement at Plymouth. According to the traditionwhich has been passed down, Drake stayed there for some short time,and the first religious service of the Church of England was celebrated

there on St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24, 1579, by Francis Flet-cher, Priest of the Church of England and Chaplain of Sir FrancisDrake. A California monument now records that this was the "FirstChristian Service in the English Tongue on our Coast" and the "Firstuse of the Book of Common Prayer in our Country."Abraham Janssens had done an oil painting of Sir Francis Drakefrom life, and that painting had been preserved continuously in thepossession of his family at Buckland Abbey, Devonshire. Through thecourtesy of Lady Drake a series of photographs were obtained of thatportrait. On the obverse of the medal the bust of Sir Francis appearswith the inscription above it reading SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 1540-1596.In the lower left corner appear the oak leaves from the seal of the Society and the date 1907, while in the lower right field there is afacsimile of the signature of Rudolf Marschall. The reverse of the piecewas dedicated to the fact that Sir Francis Drake was the first English

circumnavigator of the globe. A celebrated silver medal or rather asilver map of the world nearly three inches in diameter exists, stampedin imitation of an engraving on a thin circular plate showing on eachside an outline of one of the hemispheres with a dotted line indicatingthe probable course of Drake's expedition. This map is thought tohave been prepared shortly after Drake's return to England. Theoriginal is now in the British Museum, and a facsimile of the side show-

ing the Western Hemisphere was used for the reverse of this medal.Only four specimens of the original map are now known to exist, and



1905-1915 175one is preserved in the possession of the Drake family "in a little oldblack shagreen case, just as the first Sir Francis had itâ€”carried aboutin his pocket, may be, to show to curious questioners where his shiphad sailed." In the lower left of the map on the medal issued by theSociety the inscription reads IN COMMEMORATION OF THE / NORTH-WESTERN COAST OF AMERICA / BY THE / FIRST ENGLISH CIRCUMNAVI-

GATOR / A.D. 1579.80During the course of the preparation of the Drake medal a number of other projects were started. Some few of these were successfully carriedto completion. Among those was the preparation of a pin and badgeof membership in the Society. This device consisted of a reduced modelof the seal of the Society designed by Victor D. Brenner, suspendedfrom a single oak leaf bearing two acorns. The reverse was completelyepigraphic and bore the inscription MDCCCLVIH around the top and

MCMVHI at the bottom while across the field ran the legend .APRIL.VI.. President Huntington wore this badge in a unique copy whichwas struck in gold and presented to him. The other members of theCouncil received the badge in silver and wore it at meetings. Onehundred bronze copies were prepared without the clasp and attach-ment for suspension so that they might be presented to guests at anni-versary meetings.81Archer M. Huntington had been the donor of the land on which theSociety's building was to stand, and the very building itself owed itsexistence to President Huntington's generosity in giving and in loaningmoney to the organization. At the Fiftieth Anniversary Meeting onApril 6, 1908, as has been mentioned, a note from the Society for a loanof $25,000 was cancelled by Huntington and changed into a gift. TheSociety was thereby freed from all indebtedness, and, of course, it wasonly proper that some step should be taken to indicate the deep feel-ings of the members towards Huntington for his generous gift. At thesuggestion of George F. Kunz a resolution was unanimously adopted

providing for a Huntington medal.82 Various proposals were putforward as to the form and design of the piece. Victor D. Brenner sug-gested a design for the obverse with a portrait and the full name in-scribed in the rim and perhaps some small inscription in the center field indicating the fact of Huntington's Presidency in 1908, opposite the



176 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEseal of the Society. For the reverse he proposed the buildingwithin a wreath with the inscription The American Numismatic SocietyCelebrated Its Fiftieth Anniversary, Apr. 1858-1908.^ Brenner, it seems,was premature in his desire to design this medal because it is ap-parent from the correspondence that he had never been commission-

ed to prepare models. As soon as Edward D. Adams was informed of thecorrespondence between Belden and Brenner, he quickly contactedBelden about the matter.84 Belden had obtained a photograph of Huntington and when the question of a medal arose he had transmittedthat picture to Brenner to see if a medal could be made from it. He hadsupposed that Brenner was the logical medallist for the work; and, asfar as he was aware, even though no definitive arrangements had been

made, it seemed quite certain that Brenner expected to design thepiece.85 The committee charged with the duty of producing the medal,however, wished to choose another medallist as part of their programof encouraging the development of the art by using different artists.86The impasse was finally broken when Brenner wrote to Adams that"After having done a certain amount of work (on the HuntingtonMedal) I could find no one of the gentlemen interested willing totake up the responsibility of the medal and in consequence have des-troyed all the studies I had at the time of my removal to my presentquarters."87 The Medal Committee was now free to pursue its objectin its own fashion. In the meantime, Huntington had expressed himself as opposed to the use of his portrait in the design. The committeewas therefore faced with the problem of producing such a medal inaccordance with the resolution which specifically called for such adesign but modifying it in such a way as to make it acceptable to

Huntington.88Emil Fuchs of London, a popular medallist who had prepared piecesin honor of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra, thePrince and Princess of Wales, Prince Henry of Battenberg, a widelycirculated Coronation Medal which reached an issue of 980,000pieces, a Science, Art and Music Medal, and the South African War Medal, was retained to prepare the design.89 Fuchs had already done

two pieces for the Hispanic Society of America, and it was thereforequite certain that his work was admired by Huntington.



1905-1915 177Once the choice of an artist was made the way was clear to producethe medal. A subscription campaign was begun, and eighty-five mem-bers of the Society contributed a total of $1,094.73 to defray the cost.One copy was struck in gold, which was presented to President Hunt-ington. Eleven were issued in silver; one for the trays of the Society and

ten to serve as appropriate gifts to those who had done outstandingwork in the science of numismatics.90 Bronze copies were offered for sale.The obverse of the finished piece shows two male figures standing oneach side of a coin-press; in front of them a figure of still a third manexamining a coin through a glass. Above this scene is the inscriptionARCHER MILTON HUNTINGTON MEDAL. The reverse contains a full-length female figure holding a scroll upon which is a representation

of the Society's building and the inscription in seven lines, IN /COMMEMORATION / OF THE / FIFTIETH / ANNIVERSARY / OF THE /AMERICAN / NUMISMATIC SOCIETY. In the field to the left the date 1858appears and to the right the date 1907. Above this scene there is the in-scription THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY, and in an annulet inthe exergue there is the seal of the organization.91The bronze copies of this piece which were not sold to the membersand private purchasers had their function. We have seen that they

were distributed to the various exhibitors at the expositions held under the auspices of the Society. The medal is one of the most handsomeissued by the Society, and it spoke well for the group, the artist, andthe New York firm of Whitehead & Hoag Co. which struck the piece.In 1909, a unique opportunity was presented to the City of NewYork. This year marked the Tricentennial Anniversary of the dis-covery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson in his ship the Half Moon, and the centennial anniversary of the application of steam to

navigation on that river by Robert Fulton in his Clermont. The birthof the idea for a magnificent joint celebration of these events in aneducational display has been carefully traced in the two volumesissued as the report of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission.92Such a celebration would naturally call for the issuance of an entireseries of official insignia and publications. Among the insignia whichreceived an official status was a medal produced at the behest of the12





1905-1915 179the seal of the Commission, there is the inscription HUDSON-FULTON /CELEBRATION COMM. The artist's name appears below a coil of rope.The reverse is, of course, devoted to Fulton's use of steam. A classicaltechnique was utilized in this design which shows a parapet extendingacross the field from which two columns with fluted bases rise. From

each end of the parapet sculptured bands follow the curve of the rimuntil they join the columns. In the opening at the left there is a viewof New York as seen from the Hudson in 1807 and on the right a viewof the New York skyline as seen from New Jersey about 1909. Betweenthe columns hangs a portrait of the inventor of the steamship belowwhich is the inscription ROBERT FULTON / 1765 1815. In the foreground,seated in front of the columns are three draped figures: the one in the

center represents the genius of Steam Navigation and holds a model of the Clermont in her lap, to the right is the personification of Historywith a scroll across her lap and a pen in her right hand, to the left isCommerce resting her right hand on an anchor. In the exergue thereis the three line inscription FIRST USE OF STEAM IN NAVIGATION / ONTHE HUDSON RIVER / 1807. The name of E. Fuchs appears on the stepbelow the feet of History.Fuchs went to a great deal of trouble to insure the accuracy of de-tail; he made several trips to Holland to obtain official sanction for his representation of the vessel, the instruments of navigation, the dressof the mariners, the ships' rigging, and even the spelling of the name.This last caused some difficulty. In many records, Hudson's Christianname is given as Heinrick, but, because of the evidence that he was anEnglishman and because his name was written as Henry three timesin the contract for his employment by the Dutch East India Company

and was signed that way on the paper, even though the contract itself was in Dutch, Fuchs used the English form. "The proper spelling of thename of the vessel was not so readily determined. The publications of Holland spelled the name 'Halve Maen,' but it was admitted thatthe ancient form, and that undoubtedly used when Captain Hudsonsailed from Amsterdam, was 'Halve Maene.' Having the highestnaval authority for this latter form of spelling, the dies for the medal

were prepared accordingly. When about to strike the first medals,papers were received from Holland illustrating the floating of the newit*



180 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFE'Half Moon' in Amsterdam, and describing the details of her con-struction and shipment to New York. In all these accounts her namewas spelled 'Halve Maen.' Although in great haste to make a timelyissue, the striking of the medals was immediately suspended, awaitinga cable answer to the inquiry as to how the name was spelled upon the

ship sent here. The cable answer from the Dutch authority was reas-suring, as he not only reasserted his previous statement in favor of thefinal y as the form prevailing in 1609, but gave the information thatthe name would not be upon the ship at all. Upon the arrival of the'Half Moon' a careful inspection was made, and it was found, as issometimes done in other departments of human activities, that the oldadage 'When in doubt, do nothing' had apparently been availed of,

as, sure enough, the stern was decorated with a design of a new or crescent moon, but without any text in ancient or modern form toassure us, notwithstanding any possible doubts, that the design reallyrepresented the 'Half Moon.'"The same difficulties were inherent in the representation of theClermont. Pictures of the Port of New York available in the various mu-seums provided the best sources. Old records revealed that the finalsuccessful Clermont had gone through a number of changes in the lo-cation of the paddle-wheel, the smoke-stack, the number of masts andtheir rigging. Even after the plaster design of the medal was completedand delivered to the diesinker, it was twice altered as changes weresuccessively made in the construction of the replica of the ship.Only the portrait of Robert Fulton can be considered accurate. Itwas reproduced from a painting by Benjamin West, then in possessionof Robert Fulton Ludlow, the inventor's grandson. A most diligent

search at the British Museum, various museums in Holland, and in therecords of the various companies which employed Hudson, revealed thatthere was no truly authentic portrait of him. Hence the decision not touse any representation which might be confusing to future historians.Aside from the two gold pieces struck while the dies were in thepossession of the Society and the 100 silver pieces sold to members of theSociety, the Commission presented a specimen in virgin Alaskan gold

to the heads of nations participating in the celebration. Other copiesin silver, silver plated hard metal, bronze and aluminum were distri-



Medal Commemorating Hudson-Fulton Celebration

Medal in Honor of Grover Cleveland



Medal Commemorating the Opening of the New Theatre

Members Medalâ€”American Numismatic Society



190S-1915 I8Ibuted to various other participants. Some specimens in bronze and allof those in aluminum were made available for public sale.94In the same year as the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, work on twoother medals was begun. The first was a plaquette to commemoratethe death of President Grover Cleveland in 1908, and the second was

a medal celebrating the centennial of the establishment of the Archdio-cese of New York. Both were the designs of Jules Edouard Roine, who,like Victor D. Brenner, was not only a well known sculptor and medal-list, but also a member of the Society.95 As originally planned, theCleveland plaquette was to be struck in two copies in gold, one to beretained by the Society, and one hundred serially numbered silver specimens to be distributed to members. The bronze copies were to be

placed on sale for the general public.96 In actual fact, however, therewere only fifty silver specimens and one hundred bronzes struck.The design itself cannot be considered one of the best to havebeen issued under the auspices of the Society, but it does mark the first time that the Medallic Art Company was asked to cut thedies. The obverse shows a half length portrait of Cleveland seated,facing right. Above the head appears the legend GROVER CLEVELANDand in the upper right field a wreath of ivy enclosing the words VOXPOPULI which refers to his election as Mayor of the City of Buffalo,Governor of the State of New York and twice as President of the UnitedStates. Below the entire scene there is an ivy wreath enclosing the sealof the Society and the dates MDCCCXXXVII* MDCCCVIII*. The reverseshows the seated female figure of Democracy with her face upturnedto the right as if reading the inscription PVBLIC. OFFICE / A. PUBLIC.TRVST taken from Cleveland's address of October 25, 1881, when

accepting the nomination as Mayor of the City of Buffalo. The figureof Democracy holds in her upraised left hand a starred sphere represent-ing the States of the Union and supports her right hand on the tablesof the law, which are framed by the fasces of authority. On the supportsof the chair on which Democracy is seated are the words PAX and LABOR,while in the dim distance are to be seen a classic building with a pedi-ment and columns as well as a column surmounted by an eagle with

outstretched wings. At the bottom is the inscription *PRESIDENT* /MDCCCLXXXXIII.



182 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEThe medal by Roine to celebrate the centennial of the Archdiocese of New York is of much better design. In the center of this medal is thebust of Archbishop Farley facing left with the inscription JOHN MFARLEY ABP surrounded by a wreath. The border around this por-trait shows the busts of the other seven prelates who had held thediocesan office and inscribed around them as a border to the piece

are their names. Above the portrait of the presiding Archbishop is tobe seen the dove of the Holy Spirit descending, as in so many mediae-val reliefs. At the bottom of the medal there is the representation of thepectoral cross and to the left between the bust of Bishop Dubois andBishop Concanon the seal of the Society. In the foreground of the reversethere is a representation of the gothic structure of St. Patrick's Cathedral,while dimly in the background on the sides are representations of St.Peter's Church of 1808, in Barclay Street, and St. Patrick's Church on

Mott Street, consecrated in 1815. The entire scene is encircled by awreath which is broken at the four cardinal points to enclose at the toparms of Pope Pius X, on the right the arms of Archbishop Farley, at thebottom the arms of Pope Pius VII, and at the left the coat of arms of theArchdiocese of New York. The legend running around the wreath readsCENTENARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW YORK.One specimen of this medal was issued in gold and presented toPope Pius X. Serially numbered silver and bronze specimens wereissued running from 1 to 101 in each metal. The first of each series waspresented to Archbishop Farley while the rest were offered to themembers of the Society and later to the general public. Other medalsfrom these dies which were not numbered were issued by the RomanCatholic authorities of the City of New York.97Both pieces, though they are far from the finest medallic works pro-duced by the Society, enjoyed great success. The one honoring theArchdiocese of New York was reported in the press in some detail.98In 1914, requests were made of the Society that large castings be per-

mitted of the Cleveland Plaque to be placed in a big boulder at theentrance to Cleveland Road at Tamworth, New Hampshire, as well asfor a tablet on the Grover Cleveland Home at Caldwell, New Jersey,and for the new high school building named in his honor in Cranford,New Jersey. This action was approved.



1905-1915 183No sooner had Roine completed his work on these two pieces thanhe was asked to prepare a suitable plaque to commemorate the cen-tenary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. This uniface piece shows afull length figure of Abraham Lincoln seated at a table facing rightwith a quill pen in hand. It would seem to be an obvious allusion to

the Great Emancipator preparing or signing the proclamation freeingthe slaves in the territories in rebellion. A winged figure of Fame bear-ing a branch of a tree in the left hand hovers before the President andcrowns him with a wreath of laurel. In the upper left corner of theplaque is the seal of the Society and below the scene the inscription1809 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1909."The dies for this piece were cut by Whitehead & Hoag Go. Twocopies were issued in gold, seventy-five in silver and one hundred in

bronze. A very impressive large copy in bronze is presently decoratingone of the walls of the Society's building.In the same year, 1909, the New Theatre at Central Park West and62nd Street was opened, and since the event was widely heralded, theSociety took the occasion to issue a commemorative piece. The medal,designed by Bela L. Pratt, who designed the half and quarter eagles of 1908, is perhaps not one of the better medallic issues of the Society. Onthe obverse is a seated figure of a nude female holding a mirror. To the

left of the figure in vertical fashion is the date, 1909, and to the rightthe six line inscription THE / NEW / THEATRE / OF / NEW / YORK, belowwhich is the seal of the Society. The reverse shows a full length stand-ing female figure holding a tablet horizontally with both hands. Fromthe tablet is suspended a garland. The base on which the figure standsis inscribed, 1909, and to either side there is a smoking Roman lamp.A curtain extends down from the upper part of the piece and is drawnaside to the right and left by nude children.100

One specimen of this medal was struck in gold for the proprietor of the New Theatre and presented to Ellen Terry. Fifty were issued insilver and fifty in bronze for subscribers. It would seem obvious fromthe small size of the issue that this particular piece evoked no greatresponse from the members or other collectors.It will be remembered that in 1876 the Society had issued a member-ship medal, and that occasional specimens were struck from the dies



184 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEcut by George H. Lovett as the new members desired them. With thechange in the name of the Society in 1907 and the new design of theseal, it was no longer practical to utilize these old dies. As a result, in1910, Gutzon Borglum, the famous American sculptor and medallist,was commissioned to design the new membership medal. The simplic-ity and fine modelling of the piece are quite impressive. The obverseshows a nude male figure with his back to the spectator examining aportrait medallion which he is holding; his head, slightly inclined to

the left and downwards, permits a glimpse of the medallion in his hands.The left arm is extended and holds the medallion, while the right armis concealed by the position of the body. In the right field is theinscription FOUNDED / IN / NEW YORK / MDCCCLVIII and in the leftfield the initials G.B. On the reverse, at the top are two branches of oak and at the bottom, with space below for the member's name, twobranches of laurel bound with a ribbon. Between these oak and laurelbranches is the six line inscription THE / AMERICAN / NVMISMATICSOCIETY / PARVA-NE-PEREANT / MEMBER'S MEDAL / 1910. The dies for this piece, which were prepared by Tiffany & Co., were a gift of

Sanford Saltus.101During the International Medallic Exhibition, which has alreadybeen described, it was decided that the Committee of Award shouldestablish a prize in the form of a commission to prepare a medal. Theactual preparation of this piece consumed about a year and a half, andit was only at the Annual Meeting of 1912 that Godefroid Devreese,the commemorative medallist, presented his work.102 The medal showsa female figure representing America with a laurel branch in the righthand and the United States flag in her left, standing on a globe andfacing a nude male figure holding a lyre in the left hand while extendinghis right hand toward America. The nude male is reclining on aslowly rising cloud below which, in the left field, is the legend â€¢THEâ€¢/AMERICANâ€¢/â€¢NUMISMATICâ€¢/â€¢SOCIETYâ€¢. On the reverse there is a drapedfemale figure being borne swiftly to the right on the back of an eaglewhich is flying through a cloud bank. In the left hand this figure holdsa flaming torch which gives forth rays inscribed LIBERTY. Below theentire scene is the four line legendâ€¢ â€¢ INTERNATIONALâ€¢/â€¢ MEDALLICâ€¢EXHIBITIONâ€¢/â€¢NEWâ€¢YORKâ€¢/â€¢1910â€¢.103 To say the least, the idea involved



1905-1915 185in the design of this piece is obscure, and its exact iconographicalsignificance is elusive. This is rather surprising because other medallicworks by the same artist are far superior, and Devreese was at onepoint commissioned to design some of the coins for his native Belgium,as well as for the Republic of Haiti.104Despite the questionable nature of the commemorative medal, when

in 1913 J. Sanford Saltus established the Saltus Medal Award, someconsideration was given to the suggestion that the obverse of theDevreese piece be utilized as the obverse of the newer prize. TheCouncil discussed the matter and eventually rejected the proposal,settling on a new design by A. A. Weinman.Devreese, however, did design still another piece which was issuedunder the auspices of the Society. At the International NumismaticCongress held in Brussels in 1910 it was decided at the suggestion of Archer M. Huntington that a medal should be issued in honor of

Ernest Babelon who had acted as President of the Congress. This piecewas struck under the joint auspices of the Societe Hollandaise-Belgedes Amis de la Medaille d'Art and the American Numismatic Society.On the obverse there is a clothed bust in profile of Ernest Babelonwith the legend â€¢ERNEST BABELONâ€¢ â€¢DEâ€¢L'INSTITUT, and in the rightfield G. DEVREESE / 1910. Only the obverse of this medal was by Devreese,and he utilized a reducing machine in cutting the die from a largemodel. The die for the reverse of this piece was prepared by Rudolf Bosselt by the older process of engraving directly on the block of

steel. Bosselt, an artist from Dusseldorf, had remained a zealous ad-vocate of the doctrine that a medallist, to achieve the best results,should engrave his design directly upon the steel and not model it ina softer medium.105 Bosselt's design shows a head of Athena, in pro-file to left, wearing a helmet with a large ornate crest; her hair fallson her neck below the helmet. With her right hand she grasps a spear near the head. A portion of the Panathenaic festival procession isshown on the upper edge of the circular shield which covers her shoulder. A legend reading â€¢CONGRESS INTERNâ€¢ DE NUM ET D'ART DE

LA MED. BRUXELLES, 1910, encircles the entire design. There were 100medals struck in silver and 200 in bronze.106After the death of John Pierpont Morgan in 1913, a committee con-



186 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEsisting of Archer M. Huntington, William B. Osgood Field, EdwardD. Adams, Edward T. Newell, and John J. Waterbury was set up bythe Society to commemorate Morgan's great contribution to theprogress of art. Morgan had been very helpful to the Society by lendingworks from his magnificent collections for the various exhibitions, and,

of course, his contribution to scholarly research in this country throughthe Morgan Library was incalculable. As a result, the committee de-cided to issue a memorial plaque in his honor, and Emil Fuchs wasretained to design the medal.107 Even though the dies were cut inEurope, the actual striking was done in New York by Whitehead &Hoag Co. Only a single specimen in gold for presentation to the Morganfamily was issued, but there were an additional 100 in silver which were

quickly subscribed by the members and still another 200 in bronze.108The medal itself was successful from a financial as well as an artisticviewpoint. By January 1914, all save thirty-two bronze specimens hadbeen purchased. On the obverse there was depicted a classical facadewith four columns of the composite order and stepping down from aniche or baldachino in the center there is a draped female figure re-presenting Art. The right hand of the figure rests on a square postwhich is surmounted by a small piece of statuary while in her left hand,which rests on a similar post, there is a laurel wreath. Between the twocolumns on the right there is a relief of a sculptor at work and betweenthe columns to the left a similar relief of a painter and model. At thetop, directly under the pediment, in three divisions is the inscriptionCHARACTER RELIGION FRIENDSHIP. Below this within wreaths at eachside of the facade are the dates MDCCCXXXVII in three lines on the leftand MCMXIII in two lines on the right. The seal of the Society was

placed on the base of the column on the extreme left while in the spacebetween the bases of the two columns on the right is the artist's nameE. FUCHS. On the reverse there is a tablet on which is inscribed in threelines JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN, and on each side there are standingfigures with arms resting on top of the tablet and hands clasped. Thefigure to the left is a draped female with palm branch, representingFame, and the one at the right a nude male with sledge and anvil, rep-

resenting Industry. The tablet itself stands on feet and rests on anornamental base.109



1905-1915 187The Society now enjoyed a rather unique position in the Americanscene. It had produced a great number of medallic works of art, spon-sored changes in the currency, held successful exhibitions, and achieveda certain measure of renown. In view of this it was not surprising in1912 when George H. Sullivan proposed that the Society should act

as trustee for the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medal. Algernon Sullivanhad become a member of the Society in 1880, and he continued theassociation until his death in 1888. On one occasion in 1886, Sullivanserved out an unexpired term as Vice-President. He was a lawyer byprofession, and in later life his son George H. Sullivan was his partner.110After his death his son established the Algernon Sydney SullivanMemorial Fund which was to award five medals each year to those

candidates who had done the best in the Bar Examinations in NewYork City. George H. Sullivan wished to have the Society to act astrustee for the medal, and his proposal was accepted. The Society wasgranted some commercial stock to cover the expenses of administeringthe award, but it soon became evident that it was impossible to findanyone who would take the responsibility for selecting the recipients.While the entire problem was being discussed, the New York SouthernSociety, an organization of southerners residing in New York, of whichAlgernon Sullivan had been the first President, had established a seriesof Sullivan awards at various Southern colleges.111 This series of awardsgrew in numbers while the American Numismatic Society found itimpossible to fulfill its trust. Even an offer of aid from the SouthernSociety did not alter the situation, and by 1929 it was apparent that theaward would never be made. As a result, George H. Sullivan trans-ferred the securities and some new ones to the value of about $3,000

to the Society as a fund for the purchase of medals, preferably byforeign artists. This fund was to be known as the Algernon SydneySullivan Memorial Fund and is still in existence.112Gifts to the Society during the period 1905-1915 were certainly sig-nificant not only in monetary terms but also for building up the col-lections and for establishing the physical plant. In this last case, of course, the debt to Archer M. Huntington is practically incalculable.

In 1914, a new plot of ground adjoining the Society's building on thewest with a frontage of 50 feet on I55th Street and a depth of 63 feet



188 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFE11 inches was presented to the Society. The land was actually given inMarch, but at Huntington's request no formal announcement of thegift was made until November. Of course, such news cannot be keptsecret, and, indeed, no attempt appears to have been made to keepit so, but at the time no official notice was taken of this donation.113

Construction upon this property was delayed for many years.The greatest growth of the Society during this decade was registeredin the collections. In 1905, one of the finest collections of Far Easterncoins was donated to the Society. Charles Gregory, a member who hadnever held an office in the organization but had been active in com-mittee work, donated his collection of 1411 items including manyvery rare Chinese, Japanese, and Siamese pieces. This was the first

sizeable collection of coins of the Far East to come to the Society, andin recognition of his gift Charles Gregory was declared a Patron.114From time to time Gregory added to the collection, and there were tobe very substantial gifts from others at a later date which increased thesize and value of the holdings in that field.115In 1906, Samuel H. Valentine, a brother of Herbert Valentine, do-nated 2,880 specimens which were chiefly U.S. coins and politicalpieces. Herbert Valentine had been a member of the Society fromMay 19, 1885, and in addition to serving two years, 1892-1893, asCurator of Archaeology, he was Librarian from 1896 until his death.He left a legacy of $1,000 to the Society in his will, and his brother decided to honor his memory by donating his collection as well. Hisdeath on Sept. 29, 1905 was a blow because of his constant interestand unflagging efforts.116Numerous smaller donations were received from various individuals

such as George H. Lovett, a designer of medals and diesinker, wholeft his collection by bequest to the Society, and Victor EmmanuelIII, King of Italy, who donated a copy of the Corpus NummorumItalicorum. Of course all these gifts were vital to the growth of thecollection, but it is only the largest ones that can be discussed in anydetail.John Pierpont Morgan had presented his invaluable collection of

United States coins consisting of 410 gold, 357 silver, and many bronzespecimens to the American Museum of Natural History. This col-



Athenian Dekadrachm

J. Sanford Saltus

Samuel Putnam AveryHowland Wood Holding theSwedish Eight Thaler Piece of Charles X



John Picrpont Morgan Memorial Medal

Saltus Award Medal



1905-1915 I89lection had been assembled by R. C. H. Brock of Philadelphia, andhad been acquired by Morgan after Brock's death. With Morgan'sconsent, that collection was transferred to our Society in 19o8.117 Inaddition, a second portion of the Morgan Collection consisting of theGreek, Roman, and modern coins and medals was received on inde-

finite loan from the Morgan Library in 1916. It was, however, with-drawn and dispersed in 1949, but an illustrated catalogue of the col-lection was published by Wayte Raymond, the well known coin dealer.The most unusual piece in the Morgan Collection was an Atheniandekadrachm, which was acquired by Wayte Raymond and presentedto the Society. By purchase, the Society also acquired all the Etruscanpieces, the complete series of Roman heavy bronzes, and five Roman

bronze medallions. A series of medals of the English Pretenders wasdonated by Wayte Raymond, and there were some other few purchasesof coins of importance of towns such as Gela, Metapontum, and Terina.The remainder of this very precious Morgan Collection was dispersedwith a selection of Renaissance medals going to the MetropolitanMuseum of Art and the famous Aboukir medallions being purchasedby Gulbenkian, the European oil investor.118The greatest benefactor of the Society, of course, was Archer M.Huntington, under whose aegis it acquired a permanent home andmade its largest strides. Most of Huntington's gifts were given self lesslyunder a condition of anonymity, but with the passage of time and hisrecent death it hardly seems fitting that that condition be retained.A history of this organization which maintained a studied silence aboutits greatest benefactor would hardly tell the entire story.Huntington's benefactions were not limited to the physical property

which was the home of the Society; he also added to the growth of itscollection. In 1909 he presented n60 medals struck at the FrenchMint. A year later, in co-operation with Saltus, he donated the 260pieces of the George W. Devinney Collection of Decorations and War Medals. In 1913 these two gentlemen again combined their effortsand donated the Higgins Collection which consisted of 1567 medals of the French Revolution of 1848. Certainly one of the most important

contributions made to the Society during that period was the resultof the co-operative endeavors of Huntington, Field, Newell, Ramsden,



190 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEand Saltus. The first intimation of the availability of a small but choicecollection containing a number of Chinese coins in the Lo Collectionis found in a letter from Belden to Wood in which it is suggested thatthis collection be exhibited for a time in New York. Wood had evidentlygone to the American Numismatic Association's convention in Chicago

and discovered the coins there. Belden advised shipping them to NewYork for display.119 Wood made the necessary arrangements so that theunusual collection could be retained in New York as long as desired. Oncein the City, numismatic circles were deeply affected by these specimensof the earliest Chinese coinage. Plans were formulated for its purchase,and subscriptions were raised from the five men concerned. In Marchof 1913 the transaction was finally completed.120 The very next year

Huntington donated the Bryant Collection of Paper Money which waschiefly American and consisted of 4,431 items. His constant willingnessto subscribe funds for purchases and exhibitions was most importantto the growth of the Society, but these benefactions were too numerousto be listed in this history and only the most important ones have beencited. Huntington's gifts to the Society continued as long as he lived,but it is perhaps best to delay the discussion of the later donations untilthe general treatment of the period.It would be unjust to deny the great importance of the contributionsof Archer M. Huntington, but at the same time it would be equally im-proper to affirm that he alone was responsible for the growth whichwas so marked during this period. Indeed, as has already been pointedout, he went to great pains to have others join him in as many enter-prises as possible and to encourage others to help in their own way.Among those who aided the Society materially was Daniel Parish, Jr.,

a former President, who in 1908 donated 3,541 coins and medals of modern Europe, with an estimated value of $50,000. At that time it wasestimated that the entire cabinet of the Society contained 42,000 speci-mens so that this was a tremendous gift which included choice items.Later, a gift of 145 magnificent Greek and Roman coins was also donat-ed by him.121A clear example of the importance of the contributions of others is

presented by the gift of $5,000 to the permanent funds of the Societyby J. Sanford Saltus in 1909. Saltus requested that no one outside of



1905-1915 19ithe members of the Council be informed that this donation came fromhim. Belden in reporting this to Pryer said, "I am going to try andinduce him to let us announce his name in connection with it, as Ithink he should have the credit that belongs to him, and if the gift isannounced as from 'a friend' everybody will jump to the conclusion

that Mr. Huntington is the donor, and it will be much better for theSociety if people understand that he is not the only one who makeslarge gifts."122At the Council Meeting of October 23,1909, the President announcedthe gift and Saltus was given a vote of thanks. All the members of the Council joined in urging him to permit the use of his name, and hereluctantly consented. At the regular meeting of November 17, 1909,

this was finally made known to the membership at large.The benefactions of J. Sanford Saltus, of course, cannot be limitedto a single year. Even after 1906, when Mrs. Saltus died and Saltus him-self resigned from the Council and from his committee posts in a feel-ing of despair over his loss,123 he continued his interests and aid to theSociety and by 1907 accepted the post of Second Vice-President. TheSociety's collection of decorations of honor and medals of valor is theresult of the donations of Saltus more than any other individual. Onhis frequent trips abroad he was able to acquire many rare or unusualitems which he donated. In 1914, it is recorded that 93 decorationswere given by him and, in 1918, the number is simply given as severalhundred. But Saltus did not restrict himself to those areas in which hewas particularly interested. In 1906, he donated an almost completeset of half-cents as well as the 1793 'strawberry leaf cent which hadbeen lacking in the Society's collection. He also gave a number of

medals commemorating Indian peace treaties. In 1912, after the ex-hibition devoted to Joan of Arc, he presented 221 medals which hadbeen displayed; and in 1918 he donated a Confederate half-dollar which has remained one of the prizes of the collection. As a result of his continuing interest in building up the holdings of the Society, J.Sanford Saltus was the fourth member to be named a Benefactor.It was in 1913 that Saltus presented a check for $5,000 to be used

as a permanent fund for the striking of a medal to be awarded fromtime to time "to sculptors for distinguished achievement in the field of



192 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEthe art of the medal, to authors who have merited signal honor for numismatic research and scholarship, or to those who have materiallyaided in broadening the knowledge of the Science of Numismatics."124The fund was accepted with thanks, and the medal has been awardedto the most outstanding artist in that field.

Mrs. Edward Groh, the widow of one of the founders of the Society,died in 1910; in the same manner as her late husband she had for-warded the aims of the organization. Mrs. Groh had become a lifemember in 1905, upon the death of her husband, and with her passingshe bequeathed $1500 and the "Groh Loving Cup" to the organization.The money was added to the funds for coin purchase, and the cup wasput on display in the library for many years. At the Fifty-fourth

Annual Meeting in 1912 a resolution was passed honoring the memoryof Mr. and Mrs. Groh.125At that same meeting a resolution was passed honoring the memoryof Isaac Greenwood who had joined the Society on January 12, 1859,and died in 1911. Greenwood's services to the organization had beennumerous; at one period at the end of the Civil War he had served asSecond Vice-President for two years. It was Greenwood's good fortuneto live a long life, and in 1911 he was honored as the oldest member bythe presentation of a silver membership medal.126 In his letter accept-ing the gift Greenwood, who had been confined to his home by in-firmity for some time, expressed his appreciation.127 His gift to theSociety in that year of a collection of 3,139 specimens of modern,United States, European, and Oriental coins and medals, as well as300 paper notes and his library, testified to his deep attachment to theorganization.128

In 1910, the Oettinger Collection of medals by Anton Scharff, one of the most celebrated of modern medallists and son of the Vienna Mint-Medallist, Michael Scharff, appeared on the market. Anton Scharff'scareer was a distinguished one which was crowned by his appointmentas Court-Medallist in Austria in 1887.129 With the aid of Edward D.Adams, Archer M. Huntington, and J. Sanford Saltus, this collectionwas secured for the Society. The interest of these men in medallic art

made it possible to build up our great collection.One of the great funds established for the Society during this period



1905-1915 193was the Samuel P. Avery Fund. Both Samuel P. Avery, Sr., an artdealer, and his son and namesake, an importer, were members of theSociety.130 In 1894, the elder of the two had joined the organization,and he remained on the membership rolls until his death in 1905. In1912, Samuel P. Avery, Jr., made the unsolicited offer to be one of four

contributors to a fund of $ 10,000 for the increase of the Society's col-lection. He promised the sum of $2,500, if each of the other contributorsto the new fund would do likewise. Archer M. Huntington and J. San-ford Saltus quickly agreed to be two of the three needed contributors.Avery had put a deadline of the first day of 1913 for fulfilling the con-ditions, and there was only a month and a half remaining. Letterswere quickly sent out to various friends of the organization, but the

response failed to yield an individual who would place the entire remain-ing sum at the disposal of the Society. The deadline for raising the moneywas postponed, and since many smaller contributions were coming in,Avery was asked if he would be willing to have the fourth contributionof $2,500 made up of several smaller ones. Avery went even further andconsented to have the fund started with only three contributions. For this he was honored by being presented with a gold membership medalsuitably inscribed. Notices were again sent out to the members requestingtheir support of the fund, and by April 1914, it had reached $n,160.In 1916, Avery added more than $1,500 which brought the total of hisdonations over $5,000, and he was duly named as a Benefactor.The most unusual accession during this period was a thirty-onepound eight thaler piece of Charles X, Gustavus of Sweden, dated1650. This enormous coin was acquired in 1914, and the piece was sounusual that it received great publicity not only in the local Swedish

press, Nordstjernan (The North Star), but also in the American news-papers.131 Five hundred dollars for the purchase of this piece was donatedby Emerson McMillan, who was consequently named a Patron.McMillan, a New York banker, had joined the Society in 1906, buthis activity in the organization apart from this gift appears to havebeen slight.132 The Society naturally passed a resolution thanking himfor the gift.

In 1915 thirty-two members, including Stephen H. P. Pell, sub-scribed to a fund for the purchase of a collection of Indian Peace13



194 A NEW HOME AND A NEW LIFEMedals. Pell was a prominent banker and broker, and his interest inAmerican medals and decorations can be judged from long service onthe Decorations and Insignia Committee.133 The collection of IndianPeace Medals in the Society's trays is particularly fine, and the coreof it owes much to the efforts of Pell and others who were interested in

Americana.A review of this decade from 1905 to 1915 finds the Society in auniquely healthy state after tremendous growth. At the start of thisperiod there were no benefactors who had given as much as $5000 tothe organization, but by the end, Archer M. Huntington, ArabellaHuntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus, and Charles Greg-ory had been named as such. Numerous gifts had been received from

an increasing number of members, and the interest of younger mensuch as Newell and Reilly, who were to do so much for the organi-zation, had become firmly attached. A measure of the growth can beseen in purely financial terms when it is remembered that in 1908 thepermanent funds only slightly exceeded $16,000 and the budget wasin the neighborhood of $2,500 per annum. By 1915, the total of secur-ities and cash reached nearly a quarter of a million dollars, and thebudget had grown accordingly. From an organization searching for ahome and struggling for life each year, the American NumismaticSociety had been transformed into an established institution of per-manence with a home and museum of its own.



COMING OF AGE.he Great War which raged over Europe in the years between 1914and 1918 had relatively little effect upon the activities of the AmericanNumismatic Society until April 6, 1917, when the United States de-clared war upon Germany. Like most institutions of this country, theSociety continued to carry on its day-to-day affairs with little worry

concerning the events in Europe save for a display of interest in thenumismatic productions of the various warring powers. In 1915, anexhibition was held of the portrait medals of Prince Otto von Bis-mark, the man who had done the most to create a powerful, unifiedGerman state.1 In the same year another exhibition was held dealingwith American war medals from the date of the creation of the Medalof Honor in 1862 down to the Nicaraguan Campaign Medal of 1912. 2

Thus, it is evident that interest in the events in Europe did not precludean equally avid patriotic attachment. This is further borne out by adisplay of Iron Crosses held in May which was followed by an exhi-bition of American Peace Medals given to the Indians, and finally byone devoted to the coins of the warring nations.3The United States, while not remaining aloof from the world-shak-ing occurrences of the war, continued the peaceful activities of normallife. In 1915, the New York Numismatic Club initiated a movementis. 195



196 COMING OF AGEfor changing the design of the half dollar, quarter, and dime. Thedesigns then in use had been adopted in 1892, and the law permittedchanges to be made every twenty-five years without the necessity for special enabling legislation. Naturally, the American Numismatic So-ciety was requested to cast its weight in favor of a change, and the

suggestion was made that a special committee be appointed to securethe desired result.4 The exact role played by the various societies of numismatists cannot be traced with any degree of assuredness, butin 1916 new designs were adopted for the three coins in question.5 Aspecial meeting on January 4, 1917, was devoted to a report by AdolphA. Weinman, the designer of the new dime and half-dollar, and Her-man A. MacNeil, the designer of the new quarter, on the experiences

that they had undergone in the course of their work, and Weinmanmade specific mention of the fact that the Society and various other groups had promoted this object, held exhibitions with that in mind,and taken other steps toward more artistic mint productions.6 Other aspects of this successful attempt to change the three coins were tracedby various speakers including Dr. George F. Kunz of the Society andDr. T. L. Comparette, the Curator of the United States Mint Cabinet,who was also a member of the organization. In its report at the AnnualMeeting on January 20, 1917, the Committee on United States Coinssignalized the new issues and described them as "eminently satis-factory."It was during the period of United States' neutrality in the greatconflict that certain changes in the organization and staff of the So-ciety were initiated. At the meeting held on January 15,1916, an amend-ment was passed to the Constitution which provided for the office of a

President to be elected by the Governors. Naturally, this involved cer-tain changes in the By-Laws which were made at the same time.7 Thesechanges had been discussed and adopted by the Council at its meetingthe previous November. The logical candidate for the office of Presi-dent was Edward T. Newell who was duly elected by the Governors.President Newell delivered his first address in that capacity to theSociety at the Fifty-ninth Annual Meeting held on January 20, 1917. In

attacking the problems which were to be faced, he pointed out that theGovernors in the past had served chiefly as ornaments to the member-



Robert James EidlitzWilliam Gilman Thompson

James Earl Fraser in his StudioBald Eagleâ€”Declaration of War Medal



Medal Commemorating the Laying of Cornerstone for St. Bartholomew's Church

Medal Commemorating Completion of the Catskill Aqueduct



1915-1930ship list even though they were specifically declared to be officers under the Constitution of 1910. In addition, the Society faced the necessityof increasing its expenditures for salaries because of the increase in thecost of living which resulted from the war. Under these conditions, itwas decided that the President and the Treasurer, Mr. John Reilly,

Jr., should be prevailed upon to devote a larger measure of their timeto the Society and to remove their collections to the Society's building.This would enable the organization to economize in one departmentand to save approximately the amount required by the added expen-diture of increasing the salary of the Curator and other employees. Aletter was sent to Bauman L. Belden, who had served as Secretary andDirector of the group since 1910, explaining to him the difficulties

which were facing the body, and Belden promptly tendered his resig-nation with regret so that the additional money might be saved.8 Thischange in itself would have saved the Society no money at all becauseit necessitated certain structural changes in the building to accommodatethe two new officers as well as the payment of a sum of money to Beldenfor his salary and a bonus, but once again Archer M. Huntingtonstepped into the breach and made the change possible at no loss to theorganization.9 The Council took this occasion to pass a resolutionhonoring Belden for the many years of faithful service which he hadgiven the Society and expressing its hope that "outside activities(would) not interfere with Mr. Belden's interest and researches in thespecial field where he is so valuable."The Society, however, could not carry on without a Secretary, eventhough it was possible to manage without Belden's services as Director.For the interval before a new Secretary was chosen Henry Russell

Drowne was asked to carry out the functions of that office. In hisreport delivered at the Annual Meeting of 1917, Drowne pointed outthat he was not able to give the time which it required, and that he wasmerely serving temporarily. At the June meeting of the Council he hadsubmitted a note to that body emphasizing the necessity for securingan individual with qualities that would make the office a source of strengthening the influence of the group at home and abroad. At the

same time he suggested that the office should be honorary but that theincumbent should be free to give most of his time to his work in the



198 COMING OF AGEoffice and outside the building, including journeys of some length. Hefurther pointed out that "the work of a good Secretary would be thefinest advertisement we could have."10 Newell himself had stressed thenecessity for finding just the right man for this important post in hisPresidential Address at that meeting.

It was not an easy matter to find an adequate replacement for Bau-man L. Belden. For eighteen years he had called the members to themeetings, and he knew more about the individual participants in theSociety's activities than any other man. His services during that periodwere never forgotten, and in 1928, on the suggestion of Harrold E.Gillingham, Bauman L. Belden was unanimously elected an HonoraryCouncillor for Life.11 Almost an entire year was consumed before a

replacement was found. Surprisingly enough the new incumbent wasnot found in some distant locale but within the confines of the Society.As early as 1909, Sydney P. Noe had taken an interest in the Society andits work.12 Noe at that time was connected with Dr. C. Van Dyke in theGardner A. Sage Library of the Dutch Reformed Theological Semi-nary near Rutgers University from which he had graduated. He hadextensive knowledge of bibliography, and had visited Europe twice inthe company of Dr. Van Dyke. After five years association with theGardner Sage Library it became evident to Noe that there were stillgreener pastures. The Society at that moment was searching for a newLibrarian because of the retirement of A. D. Savage. Thus it happenedthat after some correspondence between Belden and Noe, the positionwas accepted by the latter on October 25, 1915.13In his new position as Librarian, Noe made some exceedingly im-portant advances for the Society. Previously the method for cataloguing

and the actual care of the books had been something less than satis-factory. Noe devised a new plan for cataloguing which permittedgreater ease in locating volumes; scholars were no longer dependentupon the memory of the Librarian. He also carried out the first stepsin the creation of a new device, a photofile of the illustrations in auctioncatalogues. This extremely valuable tool for all numismatists hadearlier been suggested, and so quickly did this enterprise move forward

that by 1917, 10,000 cards with illustrations had been placed in thefile.14 In addition, Noe completed a catalogue of the pamphlets then



1915-1930 199held by the Society.15 This display of energy marked Noe as the logicalchoice for the post of Secretary and he assumed his new duties in April1917, but retained his position as Librarian.In another move to secure efficiency, the Committee on Member-ship, that on Papers and Exhibitions, and that on Publicity were

dropped from the list of standing committees.16 From comments madein the Council it is clear that a majority felt that the functions per-formed by these committees in the past were now entirely within thecompetence of the permanent staff of the museum.On April 6, 1917, his patience having been exhausted in his deal-ings with the Imperial German Government, President Wilson wentbefore the Congress of the United States and requested a declaration

of war. The country had been stirred up by a series of incidents in-cluding the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman note, andwith little opposition the Congress took the United States into theWorld War. Naturally enough, there was an immediate outcry againstwhat was termed German barbarism and a great change took place inthe thinking habits of most Americans. It was under the stress of theseemotions that various proposals were made for changes in the Con-stitution of the Society. In 1917, it was proposed to change the class of so-called Members and Honorary Members to Fellows and HonoraryFellows. Under the pressure of events, it was suggested that a new pro-vision be added stating that "Only native born citizens of the UnitedStates shall be eligible to the Council." Of all of the public offices with-in the power of the American electorate, only that of President of theUnited States required such a qualification. No action was taken onthis particular provision at the Annual Meeting of 1918, but it was

announced that this amendment would be discussed and voted uponthe following year. Before that time, the Armistice signed in Com-piegne Forest on November n, 1918, removed the emotional drivefrom the proposal. The Council itself defeated the measure and it wasnever brought before the entire body of the Society again.It was not, however, the only manifestation of such war hysteriawhich gripped the Society. In May 1918, perhaps at the height of

emotionalism regarding the war, Bauman L. Belden seriously suggestedto the Council that steps be taken "as soon as possible" to remove from



200 COMING OF AGEthe Society's rolls of membership all German and Austrian subjects.The Council was not to be hurried into any such action without athorough investigation, and Belden was appointed a committee of oneto report as to which scientific societies here and abroad had passedsimilar resolutions and to present a list of those members, showing their

status, whom he deemed objectionable. Belden was not to be put downquite so easily for at the next meeting of the Council in June 1918, heresumed his attack on the enemy with a motion that the Secretary be"directed to remove as members all citizens of Germany and Austria."This motion perished for lack of a second. The Council of the Society,composed as it was of worldly men, realized that wars were merelytransitory phenomena in the history of nations, and that enemies and

opponents on one day might well be allied for common survival on thenext.Naturally, the most vital effect the war had upon the functioning of the Society was that many of the most important participants in theSociety's activities were forced into other duties. Without treating thevarious individual military careers of all these men, suffice it to say thatsome of the members served with eminent distinction. Stephen H. P.Pell was honored with the Croix de Guerre for wounds incurred in theservice of his country. A. Piatt Andrew, another member, also distin-guished himself in the American Ambulance Corps. Newell himself went to the army and was eventually commissioned, and Noe also wascalled to the colors. Newell, writing to Noe on July 23, 1918, said,"Speaking from the standpoint of the Society I am utterly dismayed atyour threatened departure. The Society will undoubtedly close itsdoors in this event coal or no coal." Fortunately, that was not the case.

By November 1918, soldiers were being returned to civilian life, and thelast of that month saw Noe once again at work in the museum. Newellhad only recently been commissioned and he expressed some fear inone of his letters that he might be held beyond the end of the war andthrough the peace conference.17 His hopes for an early return, how-ever, were not disappointed and the Society was soon back on an evenkeel.

In 1917, several timely exhibitions were held. During July andAugust of that year, there was a display of the paper money issued in



1915-1930 201Belgium and Northern France. After the publication of the medalcommemorating the declaration of war by the United States, there wasan exhibition devoted to the forms taken by the eagle on coins andmedals from the earliest times to the World War. Of course, this doesnot mean that displays of other objects of numismatic interest were

neglected completely. For example, an attractive collection of coinsand medals relating to Luther and the Reformation was displayed inconjunction with a lecture by Dr. Jeremiah Zimmerman, and theJ. Pierpont Morgan loan collection was shown in its entirety duringthe month of December when it formed the subject for a meeting. Mostof the exhibition, however, continued to deal with military subjects.In June of 1918, it was proposed that there should be an exhibition of

the distinguishing marks on the uniforms of the officers and men of theArmy and Navy of the United States. Such a display would includecaps, collar ornaments, shoulder straps, chevrons, insignia, badges,decorations, etc., and would serve a particularly useful purpose duringthe war. Offers of help were received from various other public bodies.It was even suggested that it might be particularly effective in stimu-lating new membership applications at that time. This was an impor-tant consideration because a campaign for such new membership wasthen in force. This exhibition received the most wholehearted supportof the membership including very generous financial assistance, andcreated great popular interest. The display actually served a multiplepurpose not only for the public but also for the many Army and Navypersonnel who visited the museum on that occasion. The staff of theSociety was also of considerable service to many institutions andpublications in answering queries on the subject, and Howland Wood

took particular pains to keep the information up to date.18 With the endof active hostilities there was a sharp drop in the interest in thingsmilitary, and so barely a month after the Armistice this particular exhibition was dismantled.By 1921, the subjects that were to be treated by displays at themuseum were of a much more peaceful and artistic character. In theearly part of that year, four of the Governors met at Archer M. Hunt-

ington's office and all agreed upon inviting Mrs. Clare Sheridan toexhibit her sculpture in the museum for a month. The Council ap-



2O2 COMING OF AGEproved this, even though the subject matter was patently not numis-matic, because of its stated conviction that "this exhibit will be of con-siderable benefit to the Society and introduce us to a good many whoshould know about us." Huntington did not ask the Society to bear thefinancial expenditure incidental to the display of sculpture in a museum

designed for other purposes. The costs of the removal of all the caseson the ground floor, the covering of the walls with burlap, and trans-ferring to the cabinet all the pieces that had been on display were borneby him.On May 5th of that same year, the hundredth anniversary of thedeath of Napoleon occurred. A most remarkable gift had been re-ceived during the previous year in the form of the William R. Powell

Collection of about 1,700 Napoleonic coins and medals. This collectionwas promptly put on exhibition for that anniversary and remained ondisplay throughout that spring and summer.19When the Napoleonic medals and coins were removed they were re-placed by a representative selection of United States coins, tokens, andmedals. One section of this new exhibition was devoted to the series of political medals from the time of John Quincy Adams to the present,and it occupied all the flat cases around the walls. The Convention of the American Numismatic Association was entertained in the build-ing on the evening of August 3oth, and 104 persons were present.Archer M. Huntington's interest in sculpture influenced other dis-plays sponsored by the Society. President Newell proposed that theSociety should take part in the 1923 Spring exhibition of Americansculpture. The National Sculpture Society at that time held a displayon the terrace of the Museum. In this instance, a collection of medals

by renowned American sculptors was shown to the visitors. Because of the Saltus Award Medal Fund and the co-operation which the Societyhad received from the Medallic Art Company, it was a source of satisfaction that the Society already had in its possesion a very finecollection of such works of American art. As time went on, it came tobe the finest in the world. Medals had been received from the variousrecipients of the Saltus Award, and other sculptors who had main-

tained close relationships with the Society were also generous in do-nating specimens of their productions. In addition, an appeal for con-



1915-1930 203tributions of medals and coins to the Society in the form of Christmaspresents had yielded many acquisitions. The Medallic Art Companyhad taken a particularly active role in building up the Society's col-lection by sending as many medals as it could with the express per-mission of the artists. This was particularly important because this one

company was most active in the production of works of medallic artin this country.20 Since the American Numismatic Society was soclosely involved in this display of American sculpture and medallicart it was particularly gratified when Mayor Hylan visited the exhi-bition and was received on the terrace. The actual length of timeduring which the objects were on display was from April r2th toAugust 1st, and in all probability it was the most extensive exhibition

of American sculpture ever held up to that time. The museum of theSociety was the headquarters for the administrative work, and thesuccess of the whole was in no small measure due to the time andenergy given by Agnes Baldwin Brett.At the conclusion of this exhibition, it was natural to hold a secondwhich would deal primarily with the display of European medallicproducts. The Committee on Foreign Coins and Medals took theinitiative in this case, and the remarkable exhibition which followedwas a source of pride to the entire membership.21There was, however, one spectre which hovered over the brighthorizon which has been depicted in the early part of this chapter. Themenace was financial insolvency. In 1916, it was reported by the Coun-cil that the Samuel P. Avery Fund which had been started in 1913 witha contribution of $2,500 and which grew very rapidly during the firstfew months was still about $1,500 short of the $10,000 goal.22 There

seemed to be better prospects of acquiring that sum and fortunately theexpenses for the year were relatively low and the Society ended thatperiod showing a balance of $255.19 in its current funds and a balanceof $ 1 ,793.16 in its permanent funds. By 1917, this situation had changed,and there was active pressure for retrenchment. The Annual Reportof the Treasurer for that year showed that while income had amountedto approximately $n,000.00, the expenditure had been in excess of

$15,ooo.oo.23 The retrenchment then instituted resulted, as we havedetailed, in the resignation of Bauman L. Belden and a strict economy



204 COMING OF AGEdrive in all activities of the Society. A full year later, Reilly, the Treas-urer, was still reciting the tale of woe; he pointed out that the balancefor current expenses was merely $1,132.52, an uncomfortably smallsum. Only by the strictest economies and privations had the Societybeen able to remain debt free. Such a situation could not be over-looked, and President Newell addressed himself to it at the Annual

Meeting of January 12, 1918:The rigid economy of which I have just spoken has enabled us to come throughthe past year with a very small deficit. In previous years our deficit usually amountedto thousands of dollars, which had to be met each time by special subscriptions. In1917 more has been accomplished in every department than ever before, with afinal deficit of about two hundred dollars only; but it must be remembered that we wereassisted by the liquidation of some assets stored within our building, such as oldpublications, past numbers of the Journal, unsold medals and the like. Those havenow been converted into money, but the prospect of realizing to any great extent

on such as remain is practically nil. What has been rigid economy will this comingyear have to become uncompromising penury. This will necessarily have a terriblyretarding effect upon the progress of which we are all so proud.24Much of the money which had been realized by the sale of old pub-lications and medals retained in the building had been devoted tospecific purposes such as enlarging and improving the library. Thepublication costs as well had been defrayed from a special fund whichwas now practically exhausted, so the financial condition of the So-ciety was even bleaker than had been portrayed. With all the econo-

mies and with these additional funds which could not normally be ex-pected the Society ended the year 1917 with a deficit of approximately$200.26 In his financial report the Treasurer, John Reilly, Jr., said:In spite of the most careful management and absolute denial of necessaries inevery department, we have been unable to live within our income. We are in thesame plight as all others with fixed incomes in this period of rapidly rising costs. Thesolution is an addition to our endowment and increase in associate membership.28The solution was not quite so simple. The records of the Councilduring the year show that at one point approximately $2,000 more

would be needed to meet the year's expenses. The only suggestion forth-coming was that the President should appoint a Finance Committee



Medal Commemorating Flight across the English Channel of King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians

Medal Commemorating the Peace of Versailles



Medal Commemorating Dedication of Joan of Arc Park

Presentation of Medal to the Prince of Wales aboard HMS Renown1. Edward T. Newell 2. Prince of Wales3. Prince's Equerry 4. John Flanagan, Sculptor 5. Dr. William Gilman Thompson 6. H. Russell Drowne



1915-1930 205to see who would be willing to enter a class of Sustaining Members at$100 while the other classes of members were to have their dues raised.This proposal was finally framed in the form of a motion which createda new class of "Sustaining Fellows," but the Council merely recom-mended this motion to the Governors for consideration, and nothing

more was heard of it.It is, of course, true that the Society did attempt to take some activesteps to remedy its ills. An intensive membership campaign was begunas early as January 1918, and Robert Eidlitz contributed $200 towardsits success. The actual campaign was soon in full swing and by Aprilfifty-two names had been presented for election. The Secretary, in com-menting about the results, wondered whether the previous lack of growth

could not be attributed to the fact that invitations to join had not beenmore widely extended. Particular use was made of the Banker's Di-rectory to secure names of persons who would be able to support theSociety to the fullest.27 Circulars were sent to interested people whomight be likely prospects. To attract these new members the privilegeof subscribing to medals to be issued in the near future was held out.Eidlitz took particular note of this promise because there were noplans for the issuance of such medals, and he suggested that a sub-scription medal be issued to members only to commemorate the ob-servance of the Fourth of July by other nations.28Fortunately, as we shall see later, there was no need for such specialaction because the year 1919 was truly outstanding from the stand-point of medallic issues. This was largely the result of the efforts of oneman, J. Sanford Saltus, but included among the medals issued at thattime was such a Fourth of July piece. We must, however, reserve the

discussion of the medallic issues of this period for a later point andreturn to the financial problem.At the Annual Meeting held on January 10, 1920, John Reilly, Jr.,presided and read to the members a speech which President Newellhad prepared before his recent departure for Europe. Newell pointedto the success of the membership drive, but noting its costs, said itwould not be continued into the new year. The need remained for a

"larger permanent endowment fund." President Newell could onlyappoint a Finance Committee and await the results of their deliber-



206 COMING OF AGEations. In the report later delivered to the Council, Reilly estimatedthat an additional $6,000 would be needed for the year 1920. A largeproportion of this was given directly by Archer M. Huntington and theremainder of the sum had to be raised from among the most interestedparticipants in the work of the Society. Reilly proposed on behalf of

the Committee that the Society ask its members for a guarantee fundfor five years, "feeling sure that we will then have attained such acommanding position that a more permanent foundation will beassured." One month after this request was made the total of $4,010,which surpassed the amount asked, had been received. From April of 1920 the new budget seemed assured.Reilly's estimate of the situation proved to be optimistic, for the next

year began with another round of discussion about the budget. Itseemed impossible to trim expenses without seriously damaging theeffectiveness of the Society, and there was a need for items not evenmentioned in the tentative budget. The only effective answer was tocontinue the search for financial aid. The goal was now put at $100,000additional endowment. To economize during this year, the series of evening meetings which brought only a poor attendance was cancelled.All expenses were cut as far as possible, and at the end of the year afinancial statement disclosed a more favorable situation. In 1917, thedeficit had been $220.17; in 1918, it had been $243.55; in I9I9> ^ nadrisen to $832.92, and, in 1920, to $952.15; but in 1921 there was a favor-able, balance of $23.08. This was the most complete statement of thefinances of the Society yet published, and it is clear that only because of generous support from individual members was it possible to main-tain the organization.

In 1922, the favorable trend of the preceding year seemed to reverseitself, and the end of the year found the Society in need of approxi-mately $ 1,000. Six donors, including Archer M. Huntington, wipedoff this deficit so that the balance sheet actually showed a credit of $859.04. The slate was now clean, and attention was given to securea greater return on the invested endowment. Certain bonds were soldand guaranteed mortgages yielding five percent were purchased, but

even so the rising costs of day-to-day activity seemed to swallow theincome faster than any remedial action could be taken. In 1923, Archer



1915-1930 207M. Huntington again stepped into the breach to help the Societybridge the gap, but the following year was again a poor one; now, evendonations did not save the Society from falling into the red. Deficitsseemed a perennial problem.President Newell was determined to raise the necessary funds tomaintain all activities of the Society. In January 1925, he appointed an

ad hoc committee of four, including himself. The problem was finallysolved in that year when a bequest was received from the estate of Arabella Huntington which amounted to $20,000. This sum plus an-other $500 from the permanent funds of the Society was invested inguaranteed mortgages by the Treasurer.President Newell could not restrain his joy at the Sixty-eighth An-nual Meeting held on January 9, 1926, when he said:Perhaps the outstanding note of this meeting will be the Treasurer's report. Itso often has been a note of sadness in the past that I am particularly sorry that a

sudden indisposition is keeping our Treasurer away from us today. I know that hewas looking forward to this meeting with a justifiably complacent pleasure as hecontemplated what he was about to tell you. I will not be stealing any of the thunder from his report when I whisper to you that we are actually closing 1925, not onlywithout the usual deficit but with a slight balance! Like Job's comforters, however,I hasten to add a jarring note. However attractive the contemplation of 1925 maybe, let not our complacency become too great. We cannot afford to sit back and foldour hands. What our Treasurer has achieved has been accomplished only by hardand persistent â€” I should perhaps say persuasive â€” labor on his part, backed to the

limit by the loyal and generous support of so many of our members. This gives usevery encouragement for the new yearâ€”but we are not out of the woods yetâ€”notby any means. We are still lacking sufficient income to meet, even partially, our barest needsâ€”let alone any possible enlargement of our activities. We still remainin urgent need of an increase of at least a hundred thousand dollars of our EndowmentFund. Until that has been secured I am afraid we shall have to postpone all imme-diate thought of the additional building (as outlined in my last annual address)which we so urgently need. The tentative plans of which I spoke at that time couldnot, for several reasons, be worked out in 1925. But let us not despairâ€”we have so

much for which to be grateful in the year just past. In thanking our Treasurer for what he has accomplished, let us also not forget those generous and loyal memberswho helped to make his report so attractive.29Never again did the Society face quite the same financial difficultyas plagued its activities during the few years from 1917 to 1925. Two



208 COMING OF AGEyears after this happy turn of events, Archer M. Huntington took thefinal step towards assuring the future of the organization by donatingthe $100,000 which Newell had so desperately sought. With his usualdesire to maintain anonymity in such matters, Huntington stipulatedthat this gift was to be treated in the strictest confidence. The income

from this new gift was to be used to pay the annual salary charges here-tofore levied against a new publication fund known as the Notes andMonograph Fund; to improve the protection of the Society's property,and to increase the scholarly production which was the Society's prin-cipal aim. Naturally, Huntington's requests in this matter were followedand steps were taken to improve the physical arrangement of the coinroom and to hire an assistant who would help in the production of

scholarly studies, and, at the same time, be an added protection to thecollection. There were few limits to Huntington's generosity. The verynext year, 1929, he made the substantial donation of $50,000 to thepermanent fund; this new gift was in addition to sums which he wasthen providing for a new building. From this point on, the Society wasfirmly established as a well-endowed organization which could face thefuture confidently. Archer M. Huntington's benefactions coveringother aspects of the Society's work will be treated as they affect thevarious activities of the program followed.Huntington's interest had peak periods, but no matter how preoc-cupied with other matters he always had time for the Society'saffairs. Occasionally, he was in sharp opposition to proposals made for the government of the organization, and he then presented his pointof view as forcefully as possible. In 1918, a suggestion was made byBauman L. Belden that the Board of Governors should be eliminated

from the structure of the Society. The Council never endorsed this pro-posal, but the threat to the constitution of 1910 was real. Huntington,who had been President when that Constitution was drawn up, stoodsquarely in favor of retaining the Board. Some tension was generatedby the dispute, but the Board of Governors was retained.30 The oldConstitution was to be amended in the course of time, but was not tobe discarded at one stroke.

There were individual changes of personnel both among the officersand the staff, but none of these were structural. Thus in 1920, when



1915-1930 209President Newell went to Europe, he was temporarily replaced asChairman of the Board of Governors by John Reilly, Jr. Again in 1924,when Mrs. Brett was about to depart for Greece to do research, her official title was changed to Associate Curator so that she could repre-sent the Society. In 1924, when John Reilly, Jr., returned to China, it

was necessary to find a new Treasurer, and the choice fell upon HarroldE. Gillingham. One addition was made to personnel in 1930 by thecreation of the post of Assistant Librarian. Naturally the Councilwould have been loathe to give up Noe's supervisory control of thelibrary because he had been the individual most responsible for thecataloguing and increased holdings, but it was apparent that heneeded aid in carrying out the routine tasks. For this position a young

graduate student from Princeton was engaged; Sawyer McA.Mosser was to remain with the Society to the present day and to succeed Noein the library and later in the office of Secretary.Some indication has been given of the status of the library whenNoe first took charge of it, but it is only by reading the plaintive notesin the Librarian's reports that one can appreciate the true extent of thedifficulties facing him. In a report of January 1917 he said: "We have noprovision whatever for our Library! One thousand dollars would gofar towards immediate needs. Twenty-five hundred invested at four percent would give us $100.00 a year, which is the minimum neededto keep us from slipping backwards. May these humble requirementsinfluence our 1917 budget." The sum involved seems paltry today or in terms of the valuable function then being performed, but it mustnot be forgotten that this request was made at the beginning of thedark period of deficits. It is to the eternal credit of Edward T. Newell

and the men surrounding him that they heeded this request to theextent that their limited resources permitted. Newell's scholarly in-stinct led him to grant as much as was within his power.In 1917, it was decided that the stocks of medals issued by the So-ciety should be disposed of in such fashion that the maximum amountof money be realized. Income from the sale of the publications of theSociety was allocated to the library for a limited period. From these

sources, the sum of approximately $500 was realized. This relieved theneeds of the library at several points, but when the necessary purchasesit



210 COMING OF AGEwere made to keep the library current there was little left for further growth.31Yet the library did grow by astounding proportions during theseyears under Noe's supervision. In 1920, Archer M. Huntington do-nated a series of lexicons and dictionaries which greatly enhanced the

utility of the collection. By purchases the various gaps were slowlyclosed, and a series of reciprocal exchange agreements were made withother societies. In 1921, the largest single addition to the library, upto that time, was made. The Hispanic Society of America had acquireda magnificent collection of books dealing specifically with all phases of coinage, and a total of more than 1,000 volumes was placed on per-manent loan in the library.32 At the same time, there was a gratifying

increase in the number of individual donors to the library funds as themembers became more and more interested in that aspect of the Society'swork. This was, in part, a natural result of the increased efficiency withwhich the library was managed. In 1924, Ferris P. Merritt, a member of the Society, started a new fund devoted to it. He donated a Serbianbond of $500, and announced his intention to add substantial sums fromtime to time until a total of $5,000 had been reached.33 This Merritt fundwas the only one devoted solely to the library until 1941, when a newdonation was made by W. Gedney Beatty for a second special fund.It was only at the close of the period covered in this chapter, how-ever, that the final arrangements were made which ensured that thelibrary would continue to be the finest of its type. In 1930, an agree-ment was signed between the Huntington Free Library and ReadingRoom, at Westchester Square in the Bronx, and the American Numis-matic Society which stipulated that in return for the transfer of ap-

proximately 1,000 duplicate volumes from the shelves of the Societyto the Huntington Free Library a sum of $ 1 ,000 would be paid annuallyto the Society for the purchase of new books. The title to the 1,000duplicate and non-numismatic volumes would remain in the handsof the Society and the title to the newer volumes would remain in thepossession of the Huntington Free Library, but the newer books wouldbe maintained at the Society's building and the duplicates would be

elsewhere. All books were to be available for consultation.34 As theLibrarian pointed out at the time:



1915-1930 211This amount should prove ample for securing all desirable numismatic litera-ture that may be published, as well as providing, in addition, means for securingtitles we lack or cognate material which we have not been able to afford hitherto.With the means thus provided the Library should achieve a position of greater use-fulness and should be enabled to offer new stimulus towards the production of numismatic literature, and should be able to remove some of the handicaps which

may have prevented writers obtaining the books they wanted in the past.35During the period of financial difficulty, another interesting turn of events took place as a direct result of the economy drive. Many of the officers of the Society or the members of the staff were deeply in-terested in the American Numismatic Association, an organization lessscholarly in its approach to numismatics but an avenue of contact for all coin collectors. Men such as Howland Wood, Edward T. Newell,and John Reilly, Jr., were active members of both organizations. The

Association sponsored a monthly journal known as The Numismatist,in which a specific section was devoted to the activities of the variousnumismatic groups throughout the country. What was more naturalthan that the Society should make an agreement with the Associationto publish its annual Proceedings in The Numismatist and thus save thepublication costs which were at that time quite burdensome. This wasdone in 1918, and in addition the Association was asked to prepareseparate booklets containing these Proceedings bound separately with acover, title page, list of officers, committees, and members of the So-ciety. This was not as sharp a deviation from previous practice as itseems at first glance because minutes of individual meetings of theSociety had been printed in The Numismatist for some time, and theSociety had maintained a subscription for 400 copies at a price of $400.This subscription was now reduced to 350 at the same price of onedollar per volume. Thus there was a saving of $50 and a gain from thefact that the Proceedings were not published separately by the Societyeven though they were made available as pamphlets.

In 1920, however, there was a decided turn for the better in the matter of financial resources for publication. As will be shown, the publicationsof the Society had up to that point depended on individual acts of generosity to a large degree, but at that time the idea for a new serieswas sponsored by Archer M. Huntington. A fund known as the Numis-14*



212 COMING OF AGEmatic Notes and Monographs Fund was established by him with acapital of $100,000 to insure the publication of a series of scholarlystudies in a specific format on pages of 41/2 by 65/8 inches. It was a smallpocket book with paper covers and ruled margins. With this newseries available to the Society, the publication of the Proceedings as part of

the Numismatic Notes and Monographs in the same format was suggested.Under the agreement between the two organizations then in force, thepayments made for the publication in The Numismatist actually were asubsidy to that journal. The practice had continued because there hadnot been any less expensive means for publication without laying anadditional burden on the staff of the museum. A re-examination of thequestion revealed that the amount of labor required for publication in

the new format was not more than was necessary for preparing copy for the journal and in addition the saving of the subsidy, which by 1920had risen to $450 was something to be taken into account. The onlymatters to be determined were whether the new Numismatic Notes andMonographs Fund was available for this purpose and whether the with-drawal of the subsidy might not cripple The Numismatist. By November,an investigation had revealed that the change could be made, and as aresult The Numismatist was notified a month in advance of the publicationof the Proceedings for the next year that it could no longer expect thesame arrangement to be followed.36 The Proceedings for the next threeyears were published in the new format and once again that way in r 926,but the labor proved to be greater than had first been imagined, andfor all the other years until 1933 they appeared in The Numismatist.This incident involving the publication of the Proceedings can serveto illustrate the close relationship between the American Numismatic

Association and the Society. There were, of course, other facets to thisfriendship. In 1922, the Annual Convention of the Association was heldin New York and the local New York Numismatic Club was host to thegathering. Even though the Society was not officially one of the par-ticipating groups, inquiries were made as to how a co-operative effortmight insure the success of the convention.37 The New York Numis-matic Club suggested that an invitation be extended to the members

of the Association to spend an afternoon at the museum, and that theSociety prepare a special exhibition as well as extend its facilities to



Medal in Honor of the Prince of Wales

John Flanagan at Work Case for the Prince of Wales Medal



Medal in Honor of the American Red Cross

Medal in Honor of Joseph Hodges Choate



1915-1930 213those attending the convention. This proposal was accepted, and itcontributed a good deal to the success of that year's convention.This period in the Society's history is most notable in three specificfields. It was a period of great medallic production, one of enlargedpublication of scholarly works, and also of physical expansion with

the addition of a new building. Individual members of the Societystand forth as the moving forces in the accomplishments achieved inthese various areas. In the field of medallic productions, the name of J. Sanford Saltus must be given particular prominence, and his laborsresulted in an especially rich series of medals. Perhaps even more im-portant was the establishment of the J. Sanford Saltus Award. It willbe remembered that in 1913 Saltus had established a $5,000 fund for

striking medals to be awarded from time to time "to sculptors for distinguished achievement in the field of the art of the medal, toauthors who have merited signal honor for numismatic research andscholarship, to those who have materially aided in broadening theknowledge of the Science of Numismatics."38 For three years after theestablishment of this prize no steps were taken towards designing thepiece or giving an award. Finally, at the end of 1916, the Medal Com-mittee was requested to make the proper arrangements. Unfortunately,this came at the moment when Saltus resigned from the Council givingas his reason the loss of his wife. His services to the Society had been sooutstanding that he was elected an Honorary Councillor for Life at thefollowing Annual Meeting.39As has already been pointed out in a previous chapter, the Societyhad determined to use the Huntington medal for almost the samepurpose as was stipulated for the new prize. Some distinction had to be

made between these two awards. As a result, literary attainment innumismatics was made the criterion for the Huntington award, andexcellence in medallic art the deciding factor in the case of the Saltusprize. Medals and their art comprised a large part of the collection andthe interest of the members, but there had as yet been only a few at-tempts to encourage participants in this valuable and attractive field.The time was then ripe for encouragement to sculptors to apply

themselves to this historic art form, and to build up the collection of contemporary specimens.



214 COMING OF AGEThe work of preparing a suitable medal for the prize was entrustedto the Committee on the Publication of Medals. This group, in its reportof 1918, recommended that aSaltus Award Medal Committee of threebe appointed. This second committee in turn was to select two sculptorsof prominence who in turn would choose a third member. Naturally

these three would not be eligible for the award while they served inthat capacity. The Council named W. Gedney Beatty, Dr. William Gil-man Thompson, and Robert James Eidlitz to serve as the Saltus AwardMedal Committee, and held a meeting in March to which the NationalSculpture Society members were invited and at which the medal wasawarded for the first time.The medal itself was the work of Adolph A. Weinman. The first

copies were cast, but since the best results were not obtained by thatprocess, J. Sanford Saltus asked that dies be prepared at his expense.In 1919, the first award was made to James Earl Fraser, and castingsin full size of the artist's model were exhibited at the Century Asso-ciation and the National Arts Club as well as the Architectural League.The galvanos prepared by the artist were displayed at the NationalAcademy of Design.40 The following year Adolph A. Weinman himself was the recipient of this award at the regular meeting of May 6, 1920.He richly deserved this prize because of his many successful works andhis designs for the United States coinage of 1916 which have alreadybeen mentioned. The first of the struck specimens was presented tohim.41This prize has done a great deal to stimulate medallic works of artin this country. Distinguished medallists have always been on the com-mittee to determine whether or not it should be awarded in any spe-

cific year and to nominate the recipient. The very success of the pro-ject motivated the members of the organization to demonstrate inconcrete fashion their appreciation for the generosity of J. SanfordSaltus. At the Annual Meeting of January 14, 1922, Saltus was namedan Honorary Governor for Life.42Saltus received honors from many quarters. He was elected Presi-dent of the British Numismatic Society in 1922 and the first dinner

meeting to celebrate his election was scheduled for June 2 8th. Then onJune 24, 1922, at the Hotel Metropole in London, Saltus died suddenly



1915-1930 215after having apparently been in the best of health. His body was foundin his room and the manner of his death remained a mystery untilafter the official investigation.43 It is quite evident that he had noreason to commit suicide because he was then about to marry Mrs.Estelle Campbell of New York, a widow who had many of the same

interests that he enjoyed. His body had been discovered lying on thefloor of his hotel room fully clothed and it was believed that he hadpassed away several hours before. The coroner's inquest disclosed thefact that the day before his death he had purchased a small quantityof potassium cyanide for the purpose of cleaning some recent purchasesof silver coins. Once in his room, Saltus ordered a bottle of ginger ale,and after his death two glasses were found on the dressing table, the

first contained the cyanide and the second some ginger ale. Mrs. Camp-bell told of having often seen Saltus clean coins with cyanide and of having begged him to give up using it, telling him that "it was only aquestion of time when something awful would happen."44 WhileSaltus was cleaning his new coins for presentation to the British So-ciety he must have picked up the wrong glass. The coroner's verdictwas "Death by Misadventure" which in the United States would havebeen "Death by Accident."45Saltus had accumulated a magnificent collection of decorations inthe course of his life and quite a number of these were in the possessionof the Society at the time of his death. The residuary legatees of hisestate decided to permit the Society to retain permanent possession of all such property without restriction.The outburst of interest in medallic art began as soon as the UnitedStates joined in the World War. Shortly after that event the noted

American sculptor and medallist, Eli Harvey, was engaged by theSociety to execute a commemorative piece. Harvey was particularlyrenowned for his work on animal sculpture and decorations for thelion-house at the New York Zoological Park. The American bald-headed eagle was chosen as the design for the new medal. In view of Harvey's outstanding success in the reproduction of wild-life a dynamicpicture of the living bird was chosen rather than the symbolic represen-

tation which is so often shown. The final model was approved byWilliam T. Hornaday, Director of the New York Zoological Park, and



216 COMING OF AGEit enjoys the distinction of being the most life-like portrayal of an eagleever produced in medallic art.46 The original idea for the design of themedal, which bore the date April 6, 1917, for the Declaration of War against Germany, came from William G. McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury, who was interested in using this medal to forward

Liberty Bond Sales. Edward Adams offered to bear the initial expenseof $500 in connection with this enterprise, and the Council quicklyseized the opportunity.47 A specimen of the medal was later sent toGeneral Pershing who had made a specialty of studying these birds.Other copies of the medal were dispatched to Secretary of the NavyDaniels, and various prominent men at home and abroad. The medalwas very well received and, at their request, the Bankers Trust Company

was granted permission to use the design in their Third Liberty LoanCircular. A large bronze plaque of the original model was placed in thecompany's offices for all to see.48 Newspapers over the country re-quested permission to reproduce it. Since it was widely known fromuse on Liberty Loan posters, it proved to be one of the most successfulissues.In 1917, the Society was consulted when the Parish of St. Bartholo-mew decided to issue a medal commemorating the laying of the corner-stone of its new building. William B. Osgood Field took the initiativein this instance and suggested that the piece be issued under the So-ciety's auspices. Newell and Eidlitz were asked to represent the organi-zation in superintending the making of the medal which was issuedthat summer. Since the moving force in the issuance of this medalcame from the church, this piece has never been listed among the spe-cimens struck by the organization. It does, however, bear the seal of

the American Numismatic Society and should therefore be reckonedamong its sponsored art works.A similar event took place in the same year when at the request of Robert W. De Forest, President of the Metropolitan Museum of Artand Chairman of the Mayor's Committee for the Celebration of theCompletion of the Catskill Aqueduct, the Society issued a medal torecord that engineering feat. Daniel C. French, a member of both the

National Academy of Design and of the Society, created the piecewhich was cast rather than struck.49 Circulars were sent to the members



1915-1930 217and to those on the Mayor's Committee with the result that twelvecopies were issued in silver and fifty-seven in bronze. This, however, wasrather gratifying in view of the high prices which were asked. TheSociety's participation in this enterprise justifiably established a pre-cedent for future civic issues.It was not long before this policy began to bear fruit. The visit of

the British and French War Commissions to the city in 1917 was theoccasion for a request to give commemoration to this event. The ob-verse of this new piece was also designed by Daniel C. French, but thereverse was prepared by another member of the Society, Miss EvelynB. Longman.50 It was a beautiful medal showing a head of Victorycrowned by a trench helmet to which was bound a sprig of oak, a lily,and a cluster of pine needles as emblems of England, France, and theUnited States. It bore the inscription TO COMMEMORATE THE VISIT

TO NEW YORK OF THE FRENCH AND BRITISH WAR COMMISSIONS 1917.The reverse depicted a group of three figures. The inspiration of Francepersonified by Joan of Arc, and the chivalry of England in the personof a mediaeval knight, both in full armor, were shown seeking theaid of American Liberty in the war for freedom. Five medals wereissued in gold and presented to M. Rene Viviani and Marshall JosephJoffre of the French Commission and the Right Hon. Arthur JamesBalfour and Lieutenant-General G.T.M. Bridges of the British Com-mission as well as to the former Mayor of New York City, the Hon.John Purroy Mitchel. The committee in charge also decided to offer it to art institutions and others in the form of a limited number of replicas.It was quite obvious that the Society was enjoying a period of greatmedallic productivity, and in July 1918, Robert J. Eidlitz recommend-ed still another medal to commemorate the observance of the Fourthof July by other nations. Three or four sculptors were asked to makesuggestions for this piece, but the final design was that of Allen G.

Newman, a winner of the prize offered by the National Arts Club for a Valor Medal and the designer of a medal of Joan of Arc.51 In 1918,the Independence Day celebration was given world-wide significanceand meaning by the number of participating nations including GreatBritain, Belgium, Greece, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Nicara-



2I8 COMING OF AGEgua, Guatemala, Peru, Cuba, Portugal, Servia, Italy, and France. Allthese countries were represented by escutcheons on the reverse whilethe obverse showed a figure of a woman lightly touching the LibertyBell. The inscription of the date JULY 4, 1776 made the meaning clear.The reverse stated in bold words TO COMMEMORATE THE INTERNA-TIONAL CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE DAY JULY 4, 1918. The Subscrip-

tion for the piece, however, was not large, for it was restricted to themembers of the Society and the members of the Mayor's Committeeon National Defense.More intriguing than this piece was the issuance of another medalto honor the King and Queen of the Belgians. In 1918, the royal pair had flown from Belgium to England, and J. Sanford Saltus, who wasalways vitally interested in the careers of European royalty, requestedthat the Society strike a piece in honor of "the first king of the air."He offered to pay for the dies and one gold specimen for the King.

The medal was designed by Theodore Spicer-Simpson, an artist of international reputation, and was somewhat less bombastic than Saltushad suggested. On the obverse were the jugate heads of the royal pair encircled by the inscription KING ALBERT AND QUEEN ELIZABETH OFTHE BELGIANS. Beneath the busts on a scroll were the words (Horumomnium} FORTISSIMI SUNT BELGAE, a quotation from Caesar's Commen-tary on the Gallic War which is usually translated "The bravest of allthese are the Belgians." The Belgian monarchs had crossed the EnglishChannel in both directions by air to be present at the silver anniversary

of the marriage of King George and Queen Mary of England. The re-verse showed the airplane in flight over the waves with a gull in theforeground and contained the inscription COMMEMORATING THEIR AERIAL CROSSING OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL JULY 1918. A gold specimenwas presented to the King and Queen with other unnumbered silver specimens destined for Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Alfonso XIII of Spain, and Manuel II of Portugal who were Honorary Members of theSociety.52 Saltus presented still another copy in a tinted metal to theBritish Numismatic Society and bore the entire expense for the enter-

prise.53 The final touch to this project, however, came in a suggestionwhich pleased Saltus very much and which he referred to as "very Euro-pean." It was proposed that the gold for the specimen to be given to the



1915-1930 219King should be obtained by melting Belgian gold coins.54 Indeed, Saltuswas so pleased with the actual results of the project that before he de-parted for Europe he requested that the Society should prepare ten morecopies in silver and an additional ten in bronze which he could distri-bute to friends and societies abroad.55Quite naturally the signing of the Peace of Versailles was the subject

for a new medal in 1919. Indeed, the decision to strike such a medal wastaken some time before the actual signing of the document. Since timewas not a crucial factor in the issuance, a competition was arrangedamong various artists to determine the final design. The competitors werelimited to the sculptor-members of the Society, and the contest wasclosed on January 15, 1919, with Chester A. Beach the victor.56 Sincethe contest and the actual designing of the piece were carried forwardso rapidly, it was necessary to delay before striking the medal, so thatits issuance would coincide with the signing. The winner of the compe-

tition was one of the younger American sculptors who had alreadyestablished an enviable reputation.57 In this medal, Beach tried tocombine in symbolic form all the hopes felt by the peoples involvedin the negotiations at Versailles. The description given in the circular of the Committee on the Publication of Medals is well worth repeatingverbatim:On the obverse Peace is shown with the palm branch and wreath of victoryâ€”abeautiful womanly embodiment. On the other side of the winged horse, there is themanly form of Justiceâ€”a figure of Right Triumphant. The helmet of conflict is still

upon his head, but the sheathed sword shows that the battle has been won. At theside, the wreathed scales appear. Justice and Peace advance together. Above thelonging for peace and justice, however, the treaty of 1919 is distinguished beyond allothers by the earnest desire that in future, war may be eliminated. The powerfulfigure mounted on Pegasus expresses the idea of the League of Nations incorporatedin this treaty. The clasped book of the law and the dynamic outstretched arm needno interpretingâ€”the forcefulness of the type and its virility suggest that henceforththe principals of righteousness will be in control. This thought is further emphasizedin the fallen figure of destruction, whose torch is being trampled beneath the foot of

Justice. In its lines, in its planes and in the composition this is a monumental design.On the reverse is shown the palace of Versailles where the treaty was signed. Thesun is bursting through the clouds of war and its rays light up the facade. The wholeis framed by a decorative wreath. The inscription Peace of Versailles, 1919, and thename of The American Numismatic Society complete the design.



220 COMING OF AGEA successful medal, which achieved distinction because of the beautyof the obverse figure as well as the distinctive Gothic lettering, was pro-duced in the same year by Miss Anna Vaughn Hyatt. Miss Hyatthad created the singularly fine statue of Joan of Arc, placed on River-side Drive overlooking the Hudson. The surrounding portion of theslope was transformed into a park which the City of New York named

in honor of the Saint. Naturally, the Society, because of its connectionwith the original statue, chose to commemorate this dedication as well,and Miss Hyatt consented to make the design for the new medal. Thepiece itself was distinguished by the mediaeval style which was woveninto the figure of Joan in armor bearing a sword, which she graspsabout the blade with both hands, while viewing the cross formed bythe junction of the pommel, blade, and guard. An inscription in Gothiclettering reading HOMAGE TO THE MAID OF FRANCE further contributes

to the mediaeval flavor. The reverse shows the banner of Joan of Arcwith other pennants fluttering behind conveying the suggestion of theceremonies at the dedication. It bears the inscription, also in Gothicletters JOAN OF ARC PARK DEDICATED JANUARY 6, 1919.58 By a fortunateset of circumstances, the actual piece appeared in the same year as thecanonization of St. Joan in Rome and therefore served doubly as a timelytribute.69The year 1919 was one which witnessed more than the usual number of members of European royalty visiting the United States. Reports of the peregrinations of these people reached J. Sanford Saltus in Paris,and he determined to celebrate each of these events in medallic form.The Prince of Wales was one to make the voyage and also the King andQueen of the Belgians. Unfortunately, it was at this very moment thatPresident Wilson was stricken, so that an official visit became quiteimpossible for the Belgian royal family, with the result that no medalwas issued for their voyage. In the case of the Prince of Wales, on theother hand, Saltus wrote to Noe, "If the Prince of Wales comes to the

U.S. or even any part of America, I want a medal struck in honour of his visit." Saltus offered to donate the amount required by the artist,the diesinker, and for one gold medal to be presented to the Prince andsix silver specimens for the Society. The details of the arrangementswere left in the hands of the responsible officials of the Society.60 The



Medal in Honor of Visit of Marshall Foch to the U.S.

Medal Commemorating the Ride of Paul Revere



Medal Commemorating Tercentenary of Purchase of Manhattan from the Indians

Albert R. FreyConfederate Half Dollar



1915-1930 221final product was the creation of John Flanagan, pupil of AugustusSaint-Gaudens. Saltus had other copies of the medal struck for presen-tation to various persons and organizations after the final arrangementshad been made.61 On November 18th, the presentation ceremonies toEdward, Prince of Wales were held aboard the H.M.S. Renown. TheCommittee, composed of Newell, Reilly, and Drowne for the Governors

and Gillingham and Dr. Thompson for the Council, was taken aboardthe warship and presented to the Prince. Newell made an informalspeech of presentation and at the same time managed to ask the Princewhether he would accept an honorary membership in the Society.(Newell was in turn requested to present this invitation in writing.)The medal bore a portrait of the Prince in profile with his crest in thefield and the inscription EDWARD PRINCE OF WALES. The reverse showeda welcoming figure of Columbia while at both sides of the field therewere oak branches which were national emblems of Great Britain. In

the field to the left of Columbia was the inscription COMMEMORATING /THE VISIT OF / H.R.H. THE PRINCE / OF WALES / TO THE / UNITED STATES /NOVEMBER / M â€¢ c â€¢ M â€¢ XIX below which was the seal of the Society withthe letters Aâ€¢Nâ€¢S inscribed across it.62 The case in which the medalwas presented was of equal beauty, and Dr. Kunz was so struck by it that he photographed it for Saltus. The natural grain of thewood came out to perfection, and on it was a statement bearingwitness to the fact that the wood came from a tree planted by the Princehimself.63

The Belgian monarchs, even though their visit could not be complete-ly official, did come amid a wave of good feeling in 1919. Saltus pressedstrongly for a fund to strike a medal in honor of this event, but thenumerous medallic issues that had recently appeared resulted inapathy for the new venture. In a final offer he made a plea for strikingsuch a medal with the expenses being borne by him in the same wayas for the Prince of Wales piece, but this also was unsuccessful.64 As thetime for the visit neared he wired in desperation, "Wrote you yester-dayâ€”Belgians sail Mondayâ€”if required I will donate all expense of

medalâ€”quick work needed." By this time it was too late, but he hadgiven an earlier proposal in one of his letters which was accepted. OnAugust 11 th, he had written from Paris.



222 COMING OF AGEThe King and Queen will be the first King and Queen to 'Visit' the U.S. Theycome from a country that fought with us, and the King is an Honorary Member of the Society. I am sure, it would hurt us not to strike a medal to mark the RoyalVisit, of the first of our Royal members to visit America. It has also occurred tome that it would be a graceful act on the part of our Society to, should She cometo America, to elect Her an Honorary Member, so at the next, or the next proper,

meeting of The American Numismatic Society,I propose for Honorary MembershipHer Majesty, The Queen of the Belgians.It was realized that a proper procedure might be arranged in whichthe Queen would be elected to Honorary Membership and presentedwith a gold membership medal. This was communicated to Saltus,and he readily agreed.65A formal invitation to visit the Society was extended to the Kingand Queen through Baron de Cartier, the Belgian Ambassador, but the

number of other visits required made this impossible.66 The presentationwas carried out at a reception held at the New York Public Library onSaturday, October 4, 1919. It was an informal gathering with abouttwenty war relief organizations represented. Those delegated by thevarious societies stood about and applauded as the royal party entered.After one or two of the other delegates had been greeted by the Belgianmonarchs, Newell was asked to make the presentation to the Queen.67After this spate of medallic issues, President Newell commented atlength upon this particular activity in his Presidential Address of 1920.

He said:Nearly all the foremost medallists in America have now, one after the other,been called upon to assist in making our series of medals the finest that has ever beenissued by any society in our country, and we may be justly proud of it. It appears tome, from several points of view, that activity is one of the most important that canbe undertaken by our Society. Continued progress in this particular field cannotfail to increase still further the slowly awakening interest in the Art of the Medal inAmerica, and therefore to encourage artists to make this one of their principal in-stead of one their minor forms of expression. It is unquestionably true that of late

years, possibly due to the war, possibly to other factors, medallic art both here andabroad has fallen below the standard that might have been expected. Now, withthe quickening to art that in the past has so often followed a great war, with thechanged conditions and new outlooks that have been brought about by what may



1915-1930 223or may not have been an unmitigated evil, medallic art ought certainly to blossomforth afresh, and it should be our Society's proudest boast that it was one of thefirst to encourage as well as to take advantage of such a revival. There fortunatelyremain a number of foremost artists in our country whose talents could profitably beemployed by the Society, this coming year, to increase still further the value of our medallic series. Thus we may expect not only to retain the interest of many lovers of

this form of art who have recently joined our Society principally because of the finemedals being published by it, but also to secure further members who will soon cometo see that otherwise they are missing a unique opportunity in not becoming oneof us. It would indeed be lacking in gratitude of the most elementary nature if wedid not here state that the remarkable achievement of 1919 is very largely due to theinitiative and to the untiring generosity of our great friend, Mr.J. Sanford Saltus,who in many cases made it possible for us to enter upon the striking of a medal.An illustration of the commanding position assumed by the Societyin medallic art in America is provided by the Red Cross medal which

Daniel C. French was asked to design in 192O.68 Robert W. De Forest,then Vice-President of the American Red Cross, wrote to Newellsuggesting that substantially the same procedure be followed in thecase of this medal as was used in the issuance of the Catskill Aqueductpiece.69 Thus the Society had nothing to do with the actual approvalof the design nor did the finished piece even bear its seal though themedal has always been listed among those sponsored by it. The factthat the Society had attained a pre-eminent position among the medal-lic issuing bodies in this country was responsible for a stream of re-

quests for its participation in such enterprises. Many private groupsfound it advisable to follow the path chosen by the City and to asso-ciate the name of the American Numismatic Society with their pro-jected issues. Thus, as a second example, the Century Associationissued a medal in honor of Joseph Hodges Choate in 1922, 70 and evenlater when a medal in honor of Cardinal Mercier of Belgium was struck by the noted Belgian artist Jourdain the Society was asked to aid in theproject. The Cardinal had visited America after the war, and he wasvery popular here. All proceeds from the sale of this piece were used

for the charities of Cardinal Mercier, and the Society offered to takecharge of its sale without cost.Constantly on the alert, Saltus proposed still another medal onlearning that Marshall Foch was to visit New York in October 1921.



224 COMING OF AGEHe forwarded a cablegram requesting that the Society strike a medalof Marshall Foch at his expense.71 Naturally, this did not give verymuch time for a competitive series of designs, so Robert Aitken, thedesigner of the Panama-Pacific Commemorative Quintuple Eagle(the first $50 gold piece issued under the authority of the United

States), was requested to undertake the assignment because of therapidity of his work and his readiness to begin immediately.72 In themeantime, the Society established contact with Grover A. Whalen,Vice-Chairman of the Mayor's Committee on Ceremony.73 Fortunately,Marshall Foch had been asked to lay the cornerstone of the new build-ing of the American Academy of Arts and Letters which adjoined theSociety's own edifice on Audubon Terrace. On the same day, Novem-

ber 19th, the presentation of the gold medal was made in the Society'sbuilding in the presence of the Council and a limited number of guests.John Reilly, Jr., Acting-President in the absence of Newell, made ashort presentation address, and, at a later date, replicas in bronze andsilver were offered to members of the Society, the Alliance Franchiseand the Institut Fran$aise aux Etats-Unis. The medal itself was asimple one showing a portrait of the Marshall on the obverse and awelcoming figure of Victory on the reverse.74During 1924 no medals were issued by the Society, but 1925 was the15oth anniversary of the historic ride of Paul Revere, and the decisionwas made to issue a commemorative piece. The design was entrustedto Anthony de Francisci, who had modelled the Peace Dollar and theMaine Centennial Half Dollar. Several of the New England societieswere given the opportunity to participate in this subscription.75 Thechoice of subject matter served a dual purpose. Most of the recent

issues of the Society had been devoted to foreigners because of theinterests of J. Sanford Saltus, and this had caused some measure of criticism. Still, the response to the request for subscriptions was some-what disappointing. Through the generous support of several of theleading jewellers and booksellers on Fifth Avenue and one firm inBoston, the medals were offered for sale at cost, but the piece proved afinancial failure.76 No medal with a satisfactory likeness of Paul Revere

had ever been struck, and the portraits by Gilbert Stuart and St.Memin showed him only during his advanced years. The portrait in



1915-1930 225profile which occupied the reverse was necessarily imaginative. Belowwas the inscription in parallel lines PATRIOT / SILVERSMITH-SOLDIER /ENGRAVER and beneath that a sword and a silver bowl entwined witha fillet. The reverse was the part which excited the most comment. Thesubject was quite naturally the midnight ride immortalized by Long-

fellow. The horse was depicted facing right with Revere facing the saddleabout to mount. This was the feature which caused most criticism be-cause the attitude assumed by Revere placed him mounting from thewrong flank.77The last of the medals in this period was one issued to commemoratethe Tercentenary of the Purchase of Manhattan Island. Originally, ithad been contemplated to strike a piece in honor of the founding of New York, but it was soon discovered that the evidence for the date

1623 was rather weak, and that sufficient justification for a settlementprior to the purchase of the island in 1626 could not be found. Theproject was therefore postponed until 1926, and Hermon A. MacNeilwas asked to create a suitable medal in conjunction with the celebrationof the Tercentenary.78 For this particular issue the assistance of the New-York Historical Society was received. The object in MacNeil's mindwas to express the progress that had taken place on Manhattan Islandsince its purchase. On the obverse a group of Indians are shown

bartering with the Governor, and in the background the sails andpart of the hull of the high-pooped Dutch ship can be seen. Strings of wampum serve to enclose the entire scene and the word MANHATTANin the exergue. In addition, the date 1626 occurs in the upper leftquadrant of the field. The reverse is much more symbolic and re-quires a closer survey. It was the artist's aim to depict the idealswhich had led to the City's greatness and upon which the future de-pended. Jugate male and female figures, with wings outspread to in-

dicate that they are personifications, are shown striding right. Thevirility of the one figure represents the commercial progress of the City,while the grace of the companion is the embodiment of the intellectuallife of the municipality. The skyline of Manhattan served to link thisscene with the concept of change, and in the lower left quadrant ap-peared the initials of the two sponsoring groups, A.N.S. / N.Y.H.S.79 Despitethe fact that this piece received support from both sponsoring organi-15



226 COMING OF AGEzations, it was a financial failure. In view of this lack of interest onthe part of the members and the fact that Saltus' sponsorship wasno longer available, an interval of thirteen years was to elapse beforethe next piece was issued.In addition to the production of numismatic works of art, the So-

ciety retained its strong interest in the publication of scholarly studies.At the very beginning of the period covered by this chapter the mostimportant of the works sponsored was the American Journal of Numis-matics which had improved considerably in quality under the watch-ful eye of the Publication Committee. In 1915, this Committee consistedof Reilly, Field, and Wood, and later of Reilly, Wood, and Noe.Among the outstanding works to be published under the Society's

sponsorship during this period was a Dictionary of Numismatic Names byAlbert R. Frey, which appeared as volume fifty of the Journal. Inaddition, Newell had begun the publication of the series of Seleucidstudies with a paper on the mint of Antioch which appeared in thesucceeding issue. There were, however, great difficulties facing theSociety at this time in the lack of publication funds. Manuscripts mightbe submitted, but unless there was a sufficient sum at the disposal of theCommittee there was no possibility of putting them before the public.80Once the small funds were exhausted, it was necessary to turn to thefriends of the Society for additional resources. Fortunately, thesefriends never deserted the Society, and Archer M. Huntington andEdward T. Newell were constant in their support of the Journal.*1 TheJournal was necessarily a constant drain, and it came out irregularly.This strain was too great, and it finally passed out of existence after the publication of volume fifty-three in 1924.

At the monthly meeting of the Board of Governors held on April 27,1920, a careful study was made of the ways and means for the pro-duction of a new series of volumes to be known as Numismatic Notes andMonographs. Archer M. Huntington was particularly interested in thisnew enterprise, donating funds to carry out this project. The formatof the new series was determined by him.The new series, despite the seemingly convenient format for publi-

cation, was not designed for production of popular works, but wasrather to be devoted to "original scholarship." Only the most scholarly



1915-1930 227treatises were to be included in the Numismatic Notes and Monographs.Naturally this did not exclude books which because of the subjectmatter or the excellence of the treatment would achieve a wider cir-culation, but it did establish criteria other than popularity for decidingwhether or not to publish a particular work. The announcement of the

anonymous gift and the conditions imposed upon its use filled a gapin the numismatic activities of the Society. With the establishmentof the new series the Society was "enabled to take its rightful placealongside the great societies and museums of Europe in the publicationof works of real scientific value."82The first volume in the new series was particularly welcome becauseof its importance. Sydney P. Noe had written a short monograph on

coin hoards which was used to initiate the new project. Ten other works appeared in the first year of the series. There was another oneby Noe, three by Newell, and one each by Wood, Westervelt, MissBaldwin, Perez, and Smith. The subject matter covered in these vol-umes ranged over the entire field of numismatics including ancientand modern coins and medals as well as jetons.The editing and management of the publications of the Society hadoriginally been confided to Howland Wood, but with new worksappearing at such a pace it was quite apparent that he could notcontinue this activity along with his curatorial work. It was also obviousthat the Secretary and Librarian, Noe, was also fitted to handle this task by reason of his training. The Council, in October 1921, appointed NoeEditor and Publication Manager with the duty of reporting directlyto the Council.For the first time in its history the Society could actively contem-

plate a continuous publication of longer works of a high order of merit.The articles in the American Journal of Numismatics had tended to be-come longer as they became more scholarly and detailed, and therehad also been the drawback, noted by the Committee on Publications,that once a work appeared in the Journal the authors very often fearedthat it would lose some of its effect by being accompanied by otherson still other subjects. This might have caused some of the members to

hesitate before submitting the results of their research. The new seriesobviated that difficulty by making it possible to produce each work



228 COMING OF AGEseparately, and the resources were plentiful enough so that the Com-mittee could actually solicit new monographs.83 Quite naturally, withthe increased activity in this field, it became necessary to stipulate theexact duties of the publication staff and the Committee on Publications.The Committee, appointed by the President, was to have the final

governing authority about whether or not a manuscript was to bepublished. The Publication Staff, which included Noe as Editor andWood as Associate Editor as well as an assistant, was to receive allmanuscripts and to make recommendations to the Committee regard-ing the value of the various articles submitted. It was, however, de-cided that the composition of the Staff should not be determined by theCommittee on Publications but by the Governors. Thus, there were

two independent bodies which could act as a check upon one another.This arrangement apparently worked to the best advantage, for during1922 the new volumes were received abroad with high praise. Six mon-ographs were published during that year, and three were derivedfrom European scholars of note, R. B. Whitehead, George F. Hill, andM. P. Vlasto.84 It was all the more remarkable that this record wasachieved during a period when Noe was abroad and Wood was per-force carrying the entire burden of the publications alone as well asthe curatorial office.In 1923, as the year was drawing to a close, it was noted that thePublication Fund which had been used for the Journal contained lessthan $2,500. This amount could hardly accommodate the articles whichthe Society had already promised to publish and in addition the Pro-ceedings would have to be issued. The Proceedings of 1921-1923 hadappeared in the Numismatic Notes and Monographs series, but it was noted

that there was an unusually large number of excellent articles waitingto appear. Consequently, it was decided to issue the Proceedings throughThe Numismatist as had been done in the years 1918-1920. For thenext two years this policy was adhered to, but in 1926 it was finallyshown that the guide lines which had been included in the originalformat of the series added appreciably to the cost of printing. Under theterms of the original grant any changes of format had to have the

approval of the donor, and this was quickly given, with the under-standing that the actual size of the book was not to be increased. Even



1915-1930 229so, it was possible to increase the length of the individual lines so that alonger text might be included on each page, and, of course, muchmore might be printed at reduced cost. The Proceedings of the AnnualMeeting of 1926 appeared in the new format which was used con-sistently thereafter.85

The entire history of the publications of the Society was reviewedby President Newell in his address to the Annual Meeting of January 8,1927. He told how it had become necessary to end the publication of the Journal in the post war period, and how Archer M. Huntington,in 1920, had brought forward the idea for a new series. Not all worksof scientific merit, however, could be fitted into the restricted formatof the new series, and so Newell pointed out that the Society had the

responsibility to publish other works from time to time. Two suchworks were scheduled to be published in 1927, one dealing with alittle studied field of ancient numismatics and the other with an im-portant phase of American coinage. In the course of that year, BaumanL. Belden's work on Indian Peace Medals and Newell's on The Coinagesof Demetrius Poliorcetes, which was published in London by the OxfordUniversity Press, were issued. These joined a series of other publicationssuch as Miss Baldwin's Electrum Coinage of Lampsakos published in 1914,and William's The Gold Coinage of Latin America in the following year.Between these two early works and those of Belden and Newell, a seriesof four other works by Newell, three of which had first been publishedin the Journal, were printed separately. The cost in the case of thesepublications was usually borne by the author.It would be pointless to recite the titles of the many well-knownworks which have appeared since the inception of the active program

for publication, but it must be admitted that the Numismatic Notes andMonographs series, which has grown consistently with time, never declined in scholarship. Today, it is conceded to be one of the mostimportant series of volumes devoted to numismatic research. Its re-putation has grown with its age. The Society was not solely devoted tothe publication of works already written, but also to the stimulationof new research and writing.

The events of this period from 1915 to 1930 illustrate as clearly asany the importance of continuing support from an active membership.



230 COMING OF AGEA Society of this type, however, does not draw its support from allmembers equally but rather to a greater degree from those who havethe means and the will. Quite naturally, the growth in the collectionsrepresents by far the greatest single evidence of this generosity on thepart of the members. For this period, the figures illustrating that growth

are so large that it is no longer possible to mention any but the mostimportant accessions. A survey of the total history of the accessions wasprepared by the Curator in 1923, and the tale told by the figures whichmounted from 160 pieces in 1858 to almost 11,000 pieces in 1922 issufficient to show the vast growth of more recent times.By far the greatest area of growth in the numismatic collection oc-curred in the Oriental field. Pandit Ratan Narian of Delhi had as-

sembled a magnificent collection of Orientalia including Siameseporcelain tokens and many Indian coins. This collection was purchasedby Joseph H. Durkee about 1887 and passed from him to the Metropo-litan Museum of Art. In 1917, negotiations with the Museum weresuccessful, and this entire collection was placed in the Society's build-ing on a five year loan with the added proviso that it could only bewithdrawn after that date upon six months notice.86 The Annual Meet-ing of 1918 was greeted with the news that 17,513 Oriental coins hadbeen added to the collection during the preceding year.87 The vastmajority of these coins resulted from the acquisition of two collectionswhich had been assembled by Edward T. Newell and Howland Wood.For the first time, the Society occupied a position of pre-eminence in thisnew field. The Far Eastern section had been vastly improved when theLo Collection had been acquired some years before, and still later when John Reilly, Jr. moved his coins and Orientalia into the build-

ing. Now the Mohammedan series was well represented.It is impossible to give more than these sketchy details of the indi-vidual acquisitions which made the Society the possessor of one of thefinest Oriental collections in the world. With the possession of this vaststore of research material there was quite naturally some pressure for the establishment of a new committee devoted to it.88 Such a Commit-tee on Oriental Coins was functioning by 1921. In the following year,

President Newell presented to the Society still another gift includingapproximately 8,000 pieces of the Valentine Collection of copper coins.



The Bechtler PressJulius Guttag (left] receives his 50-year Gold Medal from President Panosh of American Numismatic Association

New Building for American Numismatic Society under Construction (1929)



Exterior of American Numismatic Society (1930)

Western Exhibition Room (1930)



1915-1930 231Visitors to the Society, even from the lands in which these coins werestill to be found, were astounded on seeing the collection. R. B. White-head, who had been in the Indian Civil Service, and was a well-knownstudent and writer on Indian numismatics, expressed his surprise bothat the quality and extent of the material available at the Society.89

Naturally enough, there were also gifts of individual pieces of greatrarity. The possession of such items marks a great collection as distin-guished from simply a very large one. In 1918, one such rarity, theConfederate half-dollar was donated to the Society by J. SanfordSaltus.90 This was one of two known specimens, and its possession hasbeen a source of pride from the date of its receipt. It was mentioned atseveral points in the Proceedings of 1919, and all subsequent treatments

of the Society's cabinet never fail to record its presence.In 1920, the William R. Powell Collection of coins, medals, and to-kens relating to Napoleon was presented to the Society.91 Powell hadsent this entire mass of material, which included some specimens re-lating to the French Revolution, to the Society as a gift. The Councilpromptly elected him an Honorary Fellow and, as we have seen, anexhibition was devoted to these historic pieces. At the time of the giftPowell had not even been a member of the Society, and thus his do-nation was also a good omen of the fact that the museum was nowrecognized as an institution of national importance.The members of the Council, particularly President Newell, and themembers of the staff, were also very active in encouraging the growthof the collection by a series of gifts. Those of Newell far exceed thelimits imposed upon this history and only the largest and most impor-tant have been recorded. Howland Wood's donations were not on such a

scale, but they were equally significant as the pruduct of the work of askilled numismatist. Other members purchased sections of Wood's col-lection and gave them to the Society. As an example, in 1919, WilliamP. Beaver, purchased a section of Wood's American coins and medalsand combined them with his own. He then presented the organizationwith a total of about 800 coins and medals, chiefly political, includinga group of'Bryan' free silver medals.92 This was an important donation

because the high prices charged for American coins precluded manypurchases and also restricted the number of gifts of such pieces.



232 COMING OF AGEIn 1921, the Dr. A. F. R. Hoernle Collection of 1,726 specimens,formed by the distinguished English scholar who had been for manyyears the Examiner of Treasure Trove for the Indian Government,was presented by Newell.93In the succeeding years, the coins of Central Asia and the Near East

seem to have been received in greater numbers. In 1922, the first of thepieces from the General Starosselsky Collection were acquired. A longresidence in Persia prior to World War I had enabled this ImperialRussian officer to acquire a large number of coins among which therewas a predominance of Persian pieces and those of neighboring coun-tries. The Society was permitted to make a selection with the resultthat the process of acquiring those which were desired extended as late

as 1938 when a total of 1,125 pieces were purchased.94 These were later joined by 2,000 other Near Eastern coins from the James B. Nies Col-lection which had been bequeathed to the Society upon the death of its owner, an active member.95 Three years later, still another fivehundred Moslem coins of types or varieties not in the cabinet wereadded from the Longworth Dames Collection which was sold in 1927.These included some exceptionally rare Afghan issues of the Durranis.96Many of these were donated by Newell and the remainder werepurchased.The collection of Indian Peace Medals was naturally of greatestinterest to Bauman L. Belden, who wrote the classic study of them in1927. As Chairman of the Committee in charge of these medals, Beldensucceeded in collecting from subscribers a sufficient amount of moneyfor the purchase of the Wyman Collection. With the acquisition of these pieces, the Society's holdings of Indian Peace Medals took a com-

manding position.Quite naturally, the very growth of the Society's holdings stimulatedothers to give their collections in the full knowledge that they wouldbe safe and well cared for by experienced curators. In 1925, a collectionassembled by Frank I. Liveright containing 1,743 varieties of metalliccurrency of World War I, chiefly German and French, was given tothe Society. In 1940, Liveright added still another 2,000 Canadian

tokens to his gift. The year after this first donation, Felix Warburg hadalso presented the Society with some choice Greek and Roman speci-



1915-1930 233mens, but perhaps the most impressive gift to the eyes of the visitor tothe museum was received in 1928, when Julius Guttag donated thecoining press used by the Bechtlers for minting their private gold inNorth Carolina. It has consistently attracted a great deal of attentionfrom visitors. Julius Guttag, moreover, continued to add to this gift

by donations of recent issues of foreign currency as well as German andAustrian paper money and tokens of the first World War. In 1934, aselection from his outstanding Latin American collection was presented,and it included 1,653 coins, tokens, and medals.97 This collection hadalready been described in a book written by Guttag.This rather astonishing growth in the resources of the Society, bothin terms of the library and the various collections, necessarily caused

the Council to consider the problem of expansion of facilities. As earlyas 1922, Bauman L. Belden had noted that the building was becomingmore and more crowded and the need for space was continually in-creasing. He proposed that a Building Committee be appointed toconsider the ways and means. The vacant lot to the west of the museum,already in the possession of the Society, was available for such a pro-ject, and this proposal was quickly accepted in a unanimous vote.98Less than a quarter of a century before, the Society had been harassedby the lack of an appropriate home, but now it was considering ex-pansion of facilities which seemed more than adequate at the time of their construction.The Committee on Building was appointed by President Newell andappears to have met on several occasions during the year, but fundswere the basic need. These discussions were being carried out at thevery moment that the Society was undergoing its most pressing period

of want. A new solution was offered in 1923 when Archer M. Hunting-ton informed Newell that it was his intention to deed to the AmericanNumismatic Society the land directly back of the Church of Our Ladyof Esperanza and bordering on the plot already presented by him. Onthis land, beneath the continuation of the terrace connecting the build-ing of the American Academy of Arts and Letters with the mainportion of Audubon Terrace, a large vault had been constructed which

would be available for storage. Huntington's generosity, however,went even further, for he provided a concrete and masonry connection



234 COMING OF AGEbetween that vault and the basement floor of the existing building.This sensibly eased the crowding within the Society's quarters, but itcould not be an adequate solution, because the entire vault was under-ground and therefore unsuitable for use as a library or working space.In 1924, the problem of a new building was still before the Council,and various plans for raising the necessary capital were proposed. An-

other committee was established. Newell, in his Presidential Addressof 1925, pointed to the difficult conditions that had arisen in connec-tion with lack of space. The library had expanded until it had burstthe bounds of the original room set aside for it and encompassed theentrance to the museum with books from the floor to the ceiling. Manyvolumes had to be kept in the basement to provide a suitable workingarea on the first floor for Reilly and Wood. At the same time the sizeof the numismatic collection was so great that it overflowed that de-partment, and whole collections were improperly housed in the gallery

on the second floor. Exhibition space had been cut to the barestminimum and was confined to the first floor. Under these conditions,it was hard to suggest to members and others that the Society's quartersformed the logical place for keeping their collections. It was impossibleto promise that suitable working arrangements could be maintained.In short, the need for a new building could not be erased from thefuture. Despite the pressing financial problem which faced the So-ciety, it had to think in terms of expansion. Newell outlined the entireproblem in the most forceful terms to the members, and made a strong

plea for support."Nevertheless, for the next three years the lack of financial stabilityforced a continual postponement of any action with regard to a newbuilding. By 1928, however, it was clear for all to see that the Societywould weather the storm and could move forward. At the AnnualMeeting of that year Newell gave the signal for a more intensified driveto erect a new building:While I am on the subject of our building I would again like to remind you of the self-evident fact that, as the years go by, our building is not growing any larger

or roomier. A least three years ago special attention was called to the vital need of anadditional building, but any definite action had to be postponed because the neces-sity of increasing our endowment fund was yet more vital. Your devoted Treasurer



View of Audubon Terrace Looking East

Robert Robertson, Rowland Wood, Farran Zerbc and Edward T. Newellin front of American Numismatic Society (1935)



Medal Commemorating Sesquicentennial of the Birth of George Washington

Sydney P. Noe (1947)Herbert E. Ives, President 1942-1947



1915-1930 235has since worked hard on this particular problem and with a very considerableamount of success. All thanks to him and to our friends who have so generously con-tributed! Though we are still far, very far, from the goalâ€”as he will be the first toassertâ€”at least we now see a little light. If I am correct in this surmise, then thetime has come for once more seriously considering the much-needed increase to our building. It is not so much that we need more space for our increasing collections â€”

we doâ€”but coins, medals and paper money are comparatively small, flat affairsand can always be stowed away for the time being. Do not stop, therefore, from in-creasing our collections! What we do vitally need is more working space and faci-lities for special research work and the ever-increasing number of serious studentswho desire and should be encouraged to make use of our building. That, after all,is the ultimate and most important function of our building, its library and its col-lections. It is for the advancement and dissemination of knowledge that this buildingwas erected and these collections gathered togetherâ€”not for the mere purpose of serving as a storage house. The library now has only one room left to accommodate

comfortably a single casual worker. Another student has been barely accommodatedin a cramped little alcove blasted by main force into the seried ranks of cases on thewest side of the galleryâ€”and that is all. We have no place to put even one morestudent, and there are several in prospect. And we ought always to have availablespace to which we could invite a member to bring his collection and himself, a notremote possibility.100In November of that very year, Archer M. Huntington donated therequired funds for the new building. With his customary reticence,Huntington made the gift anonymously. A committee consisting of

Newell, Huntington, and Eidlitz was established to carry out the termsof the donation by supervising the construction. Newell reported theseevents to the membership, and circuitously told the Society that "acertain gentleman, who very strictly insists on being known only as theAnonymous Donor, informed me through Mr. Huntington that he wasprepared to erect for us the desperately needed addition to our presentbuilding!" The new building was to be of four stories, not including thebasement for the heating plant, and to cover an area of sixty feetsquare. Combined with the then existing museum, it would give the

Society a home with a facade of 1 oo feet and a depth of sixty feet. Itwas to be constructed of stone and to conform in architecture with theother museums on Audubon Terrace. Naturally enough, the plancalled for combining the existing structure and the new one into asingle building with an entrance in the center and a long facade. The



236 COMING OF AGEinterior as well as the facade of the two structures were to be integratedby a series of doors into the older building so as to permit free accessfrom one to the other without any noticeable demarcation line.101The construction of the new building occupied the Fall of 1929,and it was impossible to hold the regular Fall Meeting of that year be-

cause of the work going on. Robert J. Eidlitz, who was the president of a large, well-known construction firm, gave particular attention to theerection of the new wing which was displayed to the delighted membersat the Seventy-second Annual Meeting on January u, 1930. Thedesign by H. Brooks Price, a well-known New York architect, wasmost successful and impressed all favorably. The meeting of that year began in the old building, but after a few remarks by Newell thanking

Eidlitz, and a reply by Eidlitz, the membership adjourned to thespacious new assembly room where they listened to congratulatorytelegrams from the New York Numismatic Club.A sum of $12,000 remained after all expenses had been paid, becausethe anonymous donor had also presented the Society with a separatecheck to cover the architect's fee. This money was set aside at thesuggestion of Eidlitz to serve as a Maintenance Fund which would beinvested. All these arrangements had been completed by the time of the formal opening which was scheduled for November 13, 1930, a dayon which the American Academy of Arts and Letters intended to openan exhibition. The Academy very kindly consented to permit the useof their mailing list and to co-operate fully in celebrating the event.When the day arrived, a reception was held in lieu of the Fall meeting.The local press reported the new opening in glowing terms and ex-plained the work of the Society.102

This was clearly the high point in the history of the Society duringthe period from 1915 to 1930. The new building had been necessitatedby the numerous accessions and the increase in general activities, andin turn was to provide the facilities for future growth.



THE MATURE YEARSI93I-I945w,'ith the vigorous display of energy shown by the Society in thequarter of a century after the acquisition of its home on Audubon Ter-race, there began a period quite different in tenor. The Society was

now secure and prominent in the community, and its greatest task appeared to be acting in the capacity of the senior body of numismatistsin this country and maintaining the highest standards for numismaticscholarship. In the performance of this task, there could not have beena better suited individual than Edward T. Newell, who led the Societythrough most of the next decade. Newell was a distinguished scholar whose enthusiasm for numismatics, not only as a discipline with values

of its own but also as an invaluable ancillary science for archaeologistsand historians, was to be a molding force in determining the course of events.The first half of Newell's long term in the office of President, whichextended from 1916 to 1941, was marked by the great medallic seriesin the production of which Saltus had played the most prominent part.The financial difficulties which faced the Society for several yearsprevented any fully developed program from being acted upon. Inaddition, there was the problem of expanding the actual physical facil-ities which were available. This was to consume a great deal of Newell's237



238 THE MATURE YEARStime and energy, and to prevent the intensified application of theresources of the organization in the channels where it would have beenmost effective. The second half of Newell's presidency presented himwith the opportunity to carry out just such a program of vigorousscholarly activity. Funds were now available for a broadened publi-

cation effort, the interest of many older and younger scholars had beenattracted, and lastly, the Society could place itself at the disposal of thevarious groups engaged in excavations in Europe and the Near East.This change in emphasis was noted in the Presidential Address de-livered on January 10, 1931.l The body of that speech was devoted toan explanation of the new arrangement with the Huntington FreeLibrary and Reading Room and a summary of the connections be-

tween the Society and the excavation groups at Dura-Europos, Seleu-cia-on-the-Tigris, in Anatolia, and at Corinth. This marked a radicaldeparture from the past. Even though a great deal of energy had beenexpended in arranging for the expansion of the Society into the newwing of its building, time was found "for extending and strengtheningthe very important contacts" which the organization enjoyed withother institutions of learning and research. Numismatic advice andassistance were furnished directly to the excavators. Largely this re-sulted from the presence of Prof. Alfred Bellinger of Yale and PresidentNewell himself. Bellinger was directly connected with the excavationat Dura-Europos, and he was later to be the author of the final reporton the coins found there.2 Before that final report, however, Bellinger prepared four studies on the hoards found at Dura while Newell pre-pared a fifth, and all these were published by the Society in the Numis-matic Notes and Monographs series.3

It was quite natural that by far the largest portion of the address of President Newell should be devoted to the new arrangement with theHuntington Free Library and Reading Room. This agreement, whichwas mentioned in the last chapter, was fully described. Early in thewinter of 1930, President Newell was suddenly asked to become one of the members of the board of five trustees in charge of the rehabilitationand future enlargement of the library which was located on West-

chester Square in the Bronx. The endowment of the library had beenmaterially increased, and more land had been purchased and added



1931-1945 239to the previous site. On this expanded plot, a new building capable of holding 100,000 volumes had been built and staffed with a manager,chief librarian, two assistant librarians and other help. According toNewell, it was the sponsor's intention to transform this purely localreading room into an "important institution of research rather than a

public library of the ordinary type." In order to accomplish this, theAmerican Numismatic Society and the Museum of the AmericanIndian-Heye Foundation were asked to co-operate, and three of thefive members of the board of the reorganized institution were derivedfrom the co-operating bodies. The Museum of the American Indiantransferred its entire library to the new facilities, while the AmericanNumismatic Society merely removed its non-numismatic volumes and

duplicates to the new building. Part of the arrangement under whichthese transfers had taken place was the establishment of a new book purchase fund, and one-fourth of the income from this fund was to beat the disposal of the Society for the purchase of books on numismaticsand cognate subjects. Naturally, the ownership of these new volumeswas to remain vested in the Huntington Free Library and ReadingRoom, but they could be held by the Society. Liberal loan privilegeswere to be extended by the Library to the Society. As was pointed outin the last chapter, this new fund made possible the greatest advancesin the library's resources.In the course of 1931, the full severity of the depression, which wasgripping the nation and indeed the world, became apparent. It wasnecessarily a year of retrenchment. All institutions were feeling their way forward most cautiously because of the uncertainty of the economicsituation. The American Numismatic Society had not been crippled

by the blow of the stock market crash and the subsequent businessdecline, but it had definitely been hurt. Newell delivered a very shortaddress at the Annual Meeting of 1932 and began that address withthe old saw "happy is the country that has no history."4 The brevity of the address permitted discussion of only the relatively small growth of the collection, the somewhat larger increase in the library because of the new funds, and most important of all the close contacts with the

various American scientific expeditions and schools. The aid extendedto these groups did not involve a particularly large expenditure, but



240 THE MATURE YEARSonly the use of the personnel and facilities which were already present.Five separate excavation groups had sent their coins to the museumfor study or publication. The Oriental Institute of Chicago submittedthe coins recovered from Megiddo and AH Shar. The University Mu-seum of the University of Pennsylvania was then engaged in excavating

at Beth-Shan, and Dr. Ovid Sellers was leading the group digging atBeth-Zur. The coins from both these sites were sent to the museum for examination. Dura-Europos, however, was the most important sitefrom the standpoint of the classical archaeologist. The other sites whichhave just been mentioned had declined greatly in importance by theadvent of coinage. Dura-Europos was at its peak during the Romanperiod, and the numismatic remains from there required a particularly

careful study. Yale University, which was engaged in the excavationat that site, permitted the publication of the coinage studies to takeplace through the Society. In addition, a scholar who had been trainedin numismatics by serving in the Society was engaged to prepare thenumismatic part of the work from the excavations of the UniversityMuseum of the University of Pennsylvania at Lepethus in Cyprus,and later with the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania in theTroad. Finally, much assistance was given to the preparation and studyof the finds from Corinth made by an expedition of the AmericanSchool at Athens. These were scholarly advances with which the So-ciety could associate itself without any added expenditure but with aresulting growth in stature. As a result, every effort was made to con-tinue this program of assistance in the succeeding years. In 1932,Newell applied himself to the study of two hoards found at Minturno,Italy, by the excavators of the University Museum of the University of

Pennsylvania. This was the first serious venture at Italian archaeologyto be financed with American capital, and it was of vital importancethat the results demonstrate the high caliber of American scholarship.The final publication of these two hoards appeared in I933â€¢5The connection with the Yale University excavations appears to havebeen the most fruitful both from the standpoint of publications and thebenefit to the Society itself. In this case, with the active support of

Professors Rostovtzeff and Bellinger, the necessary complete installa-tion for the electrolytic cleaning of the excavation pieces was installed



1931-1945 241in the museum without cost to the Society. Naturally, the primarypurpose for this new apparatus was the cleaning of the pieces found atDura-Europos, but it was to remain in the possession of the Societyafter that work was completed. In addition, Prof. Bellinger delivereda lecture on the excavations at Dura at the request of the Council onDecember 12, 1933.

Hoards and casual finds from numerous sites about the Mediter-ranean began to arrive at the museum with some regularity for ex-amination. The scholars in the field learned to utilize the assistance of the staff of the Society to the fullest extent. In 1932, the coins whichhad been recovered from the ancient city of Troy were cleaned at theSociety and a series of conferences were held with Prof. Allen B. Westabout an interesting and important hoard which had been buried atTroy during the reign of the Emperor Probus. Finds from Memphis

in Egypt and Beisan in Syria were also studied and prepared for publi-cation. At the time Newell said:.. .Never before has so much actual research by outside students been carriedon in our building as in 1934. The facilities of Library and Coin Room werefrequently taxed to their utmost. The scientific world is indeed in our debt not onlyfor the facilities offered by our building but also for the devoted help and encourage-ment given by the Librarian, the Curator and by their several assistants.6In the last chapter it was also noted that the Oriental collection inthe Society's cabinet had begun to assume proportions which wereworthy of greater recognition than ever before. This had the effect of increasing the attention paid to this aspect of numismatics, not onlyby the members of the Society but by outsiders as well. Upon invitation,the Society sent to London a representative selection of Mohammedancoins struck in Persia from the time of the first caliphate in the seventhcentury A.D. to the present. These coins were to be part of a displayat the International Exhibition of Persian Art which was held by theRoyal Academy. Since the exhibition itself received a great deal of

publicity in the newspapers and special attention was given to thecontributors, the Society became even more widely recognized.7 Thisgrowth of interest in the Oriental field was also reflected in the newer publications of the Society. In 1934, its first book devoted to Islamic16



242 THE MATURE YEARSnumismatics was published.8 A second such volume appeared in 1936with succeeding works on Oriental topics in 1937, 1938, and I939â€¢9A gap of ten years was to ensue before publications in this field were tobe resumed. This notable display of energy in a particular field of studyis directly connected with the fact that a Research Assistant in Mo-

hammedan Numismatics had been engaged. Dr. George C. Miles, whohad just received his doctoral degree in Oriental Languages, was thefirst and only person to hold this position. During the two years,1937-38, that he was working on the Islamic collection verifying pastwork by Howland Wood and going somewhat further, there was em-phasis on this phase of the museum's work. In 1938, he presented astatement of his work in the form of a report which was inserted intothe Proceedings. In this short four page report the contents of the Islamic

cabinet were described.Just as the period from 1915 to 1930 was marked by the number of medallic issues, so the succeeding one was to be noted for the scholarlyenterprise and expanded series of publications in all fields. The adventof the Numismatic Notes and Monographs series had greatly stimulatedthe publishing endeavors of the Society by presenting it with the re-sources and vehicle for this work. From its establishment in 1921 through1930 a total of forty-five volumes in this series alone had appeared.

Naturally, there were other publications not included in this total. Dur-ing the next fifteen years another sixty-two volumes were added to thelist. With this extensive series of publications it is especially worthy of note that the quality of the individual volumes by no means declined.Indeed, the very success enjoyed by some of the past books requiredtheir reissue in more expanded and complete form. This was particu-larly true of the Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards. The series itself had beenbegun by a short work by Sydney P. Noe on Greek Coin Hoards, and in 1925

the first edition of A Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards by the same author appeared. Historians and classicists as well as archaeologists and numis-matists discovered this book to be an invaluable tool in their own re-search. By 1937, the number of hoards recovered and known had beensubstantially increased, and Noe had maintained his file on them. Inthat year an expanded second edition listing all the new finds waspublished and quickly replaced the older work. Since that time,





244 THE MATURE YEARSfrequent publications. The result was that the year 1932 witnessed anaccumulation of about $14,000 in the Numismatic and MonographsFund while the general business decline had cut the income of theorganization from other sources.10 It seems obvious that this requestwas made to cover the editorial expenses if that should become ne-

cessary. Archer M. Huntington readily agreed to the new practice.The income from the General Fund of the Society in 1932 was re-ported as some $1200 less than it had been in 1931, and it droppedsteadily until by 1934 it was approximately $3,000 less than it hadbeen in 1931 with the result that $2,000 was transferred from the Numis-matic and Monographs Fund to the General Fund. The very nextyear, however, there was a slight rise in the income from the General

Fund and the crisis passed.11The improvement of the financial condition of the Society after thisshort interval is proof of its essentially healthy condition; it was nowpossible to plan a new series of publications. For the printing of lengthy,original studies, especially where extended illustration was necessaryor where large-flanned coins of considerable number were involved alarger format was required than that used in the Numismatic Notes andMonographs. By 1937, planning was completed for the new series whichwas to utilize the format of the older American Journal of Numismatics.The new series was not to be given to all members without charge.Instead it was offered at half price for a six month period following thepublication of any volume. It was in this new series that Newell pub-lished his two studies of Seleucid coinage and that his posthumous work on the Alexander Coinage of Sicyon appeared. Before 1945, a total of fivevolumes of Numismatic Studies had been issued.12 Most of the works in

this series attained rapid recognition as important studies.Newell's death in early 1941 presented the publication staff andthe Council with a new problem. Much of the important researchcarried on by Newell had already been committed to notes in ad-dition to which there was the overwhelming mass of material in hisprivate collection which could be utilized for further study. By theterms of Newell's bequest a fund was established with a capital of

$25,000 for the publication of numismatic works. It was the sense of theCouncil that this money should be used primarily for the printing of



1931-1945 245material from his own collection. In addition, Sydney P. Noe who hadworked so closely with Newell was asked to undertake the final stepsin the preparation of the last of Newell's works for the printer. For-tunately, the largest part of the work had been completed by Newellhimself, and the final volume of numismatic studies from Newell's pen

was issued in 1950 through the labors of Noe.13One last change in the structure of the staff connected with the pub-lications of the Society took place in this period. Noe had assumed theoffice of Editor at the Annual Meeting of January 12, 1923. In 1944,the pressure of work from the number of positions held by Noe madeit imperative that he be relieved of this burden. Professor Bellinger was well aware of this situation and offered to assume the Editorship

without salary. He was uniquely fitted for this task by reason of hisacademic experience and the many publications which he had written.He was naturally fully aware of the problems faced by the Society and theauthors of learned publications, so his offer was quickly seized and actedupon by the Council. A resolution was passed at the same time express-ing the deep appreciation of the services of Noe while he was Editor.A complete series of personnel changes were carried out in other fields of the Society's activities because of the sudden death of some of the most important members of the Staff and Council. In 1932, thefirst changes were introduced because of the retrenchments madenecessary by the effects of the depression. Again, Noe was called uponto assume new responsibilities. In June of that year, he was appointedto the position of Director. As such he was to be the manager of thebuilding with the exception of the coin room, vault, collections, andexhibits. He was, however, to have full authority over all employees to

insure a maximum degree of efficiency. This position was not properlyaccounted for in the Constitution of the Society, though it was someyears before this difficulty was discovered. In February of 1938, theappointment was rescinded by the Council on grounds of its uncon-stitutionally. At the same time, it was pointed out that Noe was stillholding the posts of Librarian and Editor as well as Secretary. Theresult was that he was relieved of the post of Librarian and Sawyer

Me A. Mosser, who had served as his assistant, was appointed to fillthat position and at the same time to serve as Associate Editor.



246 THE MATURE YEARSThese latter changes had been occasioned by the death of HowlandWood on January 4, 1938. In 1913 Wood had come to the Society asits Curator, and in addition he had served as editor of the AmericanJournal of Numismatics from 1910 to 1920, and as associate editor of theNumismatic Notes and Monographs after 1920. In that year he had been

the recipient of the Archer M. Huntington Award for his publicationsin numismatics.14 The major portion of NewelPs Presidential Addresswhich was delivered some eleven days later was devoted to the career of Howland Wood, whom he described as "one of those rare geniuseswho combined an inherited urge to collect, an insatiable curiosity asto the "why" and the "wherefore," and an orderly mind which couldnot brook obvious gaps or disorderly arrangement."15 The collection

at the time of Howland Wood's entrance upon the office of Curator hadcontained about 50,000 items, but at his death the Society's cabinetshad grown to approximately 200,000 pieces and stood in the very frontrank of the great public collections of the world. Attributing and ar-ranging this vast number of coins and medals must have been a Her-culean task, but it was carried out with a minimum of assistance.Carrying on the work so patiently begun by Wood required an equallyskilled individual, and the Council promptly fixed upon SydneyP. Noe as the man. Ten days after Wood's death, Noe was appointedas his successor. The readjustment of personnel described was a conse-quence of this appointment.Letters of sympathy for the Society occasioned by the sudden lossof Wood were received from many widely scattered groups throughoutthe world. The Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal,the Hispanic Society of America, and the Royal Numismatic Society

in London all sent communications. The Council enacted a mem-orial to Howland Wood which was ordered placed on the minutesand a copy sent to his family as well as to The Numismatist for publi-cation.Just the year prior to the events described above, Robert Robertsonwho had been serving as Assistant Curator to Wood suddenly died.One month later William L. Clark was appointed to succeed Robertson.16

Clark's interest in numismatics had been almost purely from the stand-point of the collector. By 1937, he had become a member of the Ameri-



1931-1945 247can Numismatic Association, the American Numismatic Society andsome local coin clubs. With a very general background which coveredvaried fields of numismatics, Clark could easily assist Wood in the work relating to the modern coinages.During the year of Wood's death still another addition was made to

the staff of the Society. In the spring of that year, Raymond E. Mainwas brought to the Society and assigned to work in the library. Hisassistance in clearing the accumulated cataloguing and in aiding in thepreparation for the Augustus Exhibition to celebrate the Bimilleniumof Augustus' reorganization of the Roman Empire immediately demon-strated his value to the organization. Since he had not been engaged innumismatic research before coming to the Society, he quite naturally

devoted himself to the administrative work in the library and elsewherein the museum. Except for the short period of the Second World War when he was abroad in the Army, Main has continued with the So-ciety ever since, rising to the position of Assistant Secretary in generalcharge of the administrative functioning of the Society.With the ever growing activity of the Society as an institution devo-ted to research, recognition was granted to it in 1937 by election to theselect roster of participating groups in the American Council of Learned Societies.17 From that time to the present, the Society has al-ways been represented by a delegate on the Council. This was a formof public recognition of the worth and value of the Society's endeavorsby a group of noted scholars who met for the purpose of furtheringlearning both in the United States and abroad.The scholarly endeavors of the Society were many faceted. Not onlywas aid given to other groups and distinguished works published,

but also scholars in various fields, such as archaeology, were broughtto the Society to carry on research and utilize the collection in itsmuseum. Miss Dorothy Cox, who had been on excavations for almostten years, was brought to the Society in 1931 as a third member of the coin room staff.18 After serving in the coin room for approxima-tely a year Miss Cox joined the staff of an excavation in Cyprus. Thusthe Society provided her with an opportunity to continue her numis-

matic studies apart from the excavations.The work of interesting younger people in numismatics was pressed



248 THE MATURE YEARSwith great energy. Emphasis was placed upon students, particularlythose in preparatory schools. The Council had formulated a plan in1933 which envisioned an approach to various well-known schools for a lecture on the subject to be delivered by the Secretary. By December of 1934, some twenty schools had been approached, and whereas six

institutions definitely declined, Groton, Brooks School, Phillips Exeter,and Phillips Andover accepted the offer. Three other schools, Kent,Westminster, and Moses Brown indicated that they might makearrangements for a later date. Taft and the Belmont Hill Schoolreplied that it might be possible to extend such an invitation in thefollowing year. Five schools did not respond at all to the plan whiletwo others suggested that the cost involved outweighed the benefits.

This record was sufficiently encouraging and it was thought it wouldbe wise to extend the program to the high schools of New York City.In this case, the benefits were likely to be somewhat greater in pro-portion to the travel distance required for the speaker. At the sametime a campaign was considered which would involve an approach tothe teachers of Classics whereby it might be determined exactly howmany of them might be interested in attending a monthly meeting atthe museum at which some branch of the subject would be presentedto them and the facilities of the museum as well as the possibilitiesoffered by the coins themselves would be emphasized and demonstra-ted. These plans, however, were not carried through.Apparently, the results of the first few lectures were sufficiently en-couraging to warrant the expansion of the program. Several very pro-mising contacts were made at the preparatory schools, and one newmember was enrolled. The co-operation of the high school teachers of

the City was enlisted to further an interest in numismatics.19 Onemember of the Society became so enthusiastic about the plans that sheanonymously donated a handsome frame of electrotypes of fine ancientcoins to be used in connection with the lecture series.During the spring of 1935, the lectures were continued at the variousschools. The results indicated that the Society could not expect tointerest the younger people until it was prepared to do more in the

way of helping them make a start in numismatics. The two monthlynumismatic magazines in this country co-operated fully in the program



1931-1945 249to stimulate the public to a realization of the pleasures and value of numismatic study. It was, however, a long road that had been markedout which involved showing amateur collectors that there were greater benefits than seemed apparent at first glance. In this year the lectureseries was extended still further to include Wheaton College, as well

as Phillips Andover, Exeter, and St. Marks.20 The following year, how-ever, this program of lectures was not repeated.The most important phase of the educational activities of the Societyrevolved around the use of the facilities of the museum for the trainingand research work of graduate students. In 1938, a group of studentsunder the supervision of Prof. Karl Lehmann of New York Universitybegan a comprehensive study of the representations of classical archi-

tecture which appeared on Greek and Roman coins. This was a tre-mendous undertaking for which the need was clearly established.Archaeologists in the field and in museums and universities were con-tinually utilizing such representations for the reconstructions whichthey were called upon to make. The only volume which made a pre-tense of covering the field, Thomas L. Donaldson's Architectura Numis-matica, was out of date because it had been published in 1859 whenmodern numismatic research was just beginning. With only this work at their disposal, archaeologists had to devote long hours to tracing thearchitectural representations through the various numismatic cata-logues. Lehmann set out to remedy this by a joint undertaking withhis students. Naturally, the Society was the most logical place in thiscountry for this work to be done, and the facilities of the library weretherefore placed at the disposal of the research group. The work wasdivided into sections with various students accepting responsibility for

these parts. Unfortunately, the entire program was never fulfilled, butcertain sections devoted to specific problems were completed, andsome were published by the Society. One of the most valuable wasdevoted to the temples of Rome while another dealt specifically withthe temple of Artemis at Ephesos.21 These were scholarly treatmentsof individual aspects of the broader problem and their greatest impor-tance lay in the application of numismatic research to other disciplines.

In these two volumes, numismatic evidence was not treated as an endin itself, but rather was utilized to gain a fuller view of ancient archi-



250 THE MATURE YEARStecture.22 The co-operation between the New York University Instituteof Fine Arts and the American Numismatic Society in this enterprisemight serve as a guide post for what could be accomplished if suchjoint undertakings were to become more common. The failure to com-plete the final work simply serves to point out the vast resources whichare required for such a task.What has been said up to this point shows quite clearly the differentcharacter of the Society during this period as compared with the

years between 1915 and 1930. It must not, however, be assumed thatthe organization necessarily turned its back upon its past activities.Even though this was not a time of great medallic activity, the Societywas called upon to issue the last of its medals, save for the piece com-memorating its centennial. A tradition had been established that theCity of New York could utilize the facilities of the Society when itundertook to give medallic commemoration to historical events. Theyear 1932 marked the bicentennial of the birth of the first Presidentof the United States. The War Department gave recognition to thisevent by re-creating The Order of the Purple Heart which had originally

been established by Washington as an award for military merit. Thiswas duly reported to the Society by the Committee on War Medals andDecorations.23 Naturally enough this event was commemorated in avariety of ways, and the City of New York established a commissionfor its celebration. At its request a collection of coins and medals wasloaned for exhibition at a replica of Federal Hall erected in BryantPark. Seven years later the sesquicentennial of the first inaugurationtook place. These two events occurred so closely in time that it is mostprobable that the Society decided to recognize the second because of the numerous memorials of the earlier one. As a result, a medal wasstruck in honor of this first inauguration. The design was entrusted toAlbert Stewart, one of the better known younger American sculptorswho had already produced several pieces of great merit.On the obversethe bust of Washington was shown in the uniform of the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, with his face in profile. The dates1789 and 1939 were separated at the bottom by the three leaves and in-itials of the Society's emblem. Around the portrait was the inscriptionâ€¢ ONE â€¢ HUNDRED â€¢ AND â€¢ FIFTIETH â€¢ ANNIVERSARY. On the reverse thirteen



1931-1945 251stars surrounded the inscription â€¢ TO / COMMEMORATE â€¢/â€¢ THE â€¢ INAUGUR-ATION â€¢ OF â€¢ GEORGE â€¢/â€¢ WASHINGTON â€¢/â€¢ FIRST â€¢ PRESIDENT â€¢/â€¢ OF â€¢ THE â€¢UNITED STATES â€¢/â€¢ APRIL â€¢ 30th â€¢/â€¢ 1789.24Just a year earlier, the Society had commemorated another historicalevent, but in a quite different fashion. The year 1938 witnessed thebimillennium of the birth of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. Pre-sident Newell noted the numismatic as well as the historical signifi-cance of this event in describing the plans for an exhibition devoted toAugustus:Of very considerable interest to the members, and I trust profit to the Society,is the contemplated opening of an exhibition in the Spring commemorating the twothousandth anniversary of the birth of the greatest of all the Roman Emperors,Caesar Augustus. It is peculiarly appropriate that the Numismatic Society shouldhold such an exhibition and celebration. For by his reasoned policies Augustus verylargely changes the aspect of ancient coinage, and some of the effects may still beseen today. Augustus boasted that he had found Rome of brick, and left a marblecity. Similarly, he had found the Roman coinage, a somewhat haphazard arrange-ment in the hands of a committee of four political appointees, ever being supplement-ed by numerous issues of special appointees or of various generals in the fieldâ€”withall the disorganization and chances of abuse that such an arrangement connoted. Inaddition, many Greek communities still enjoyed the rights (and, possibly, privilegedgraft) of local coinage in silver. Octavian largely changed this. He saw to it that the

coinage of gold and silver was firmly vested in the head of the state, he eliminatedmany of the local mints, placed such as still were allowed to continue under imperialjurisdiction, increased the artistic aspect of the coinage as a whole, and gave theRoman Empire a uniform and well-ordered currency. For the comprehensive numis-matic display which we are planning, we have, of course, the Society's collections todraw upon. But this will hardly be enough, and we seriously urge our members andfriends to "rally around" and help your officers and staff to make this exhibition andcelebration not only equal to the importance of the occasion, but the finest and mostsuccessful numismatic event that has ever been attempted this side of the Atlantic.25The exhibition opened on April 28th with a private viewing and anattendance of 163 persons. Publicity had been obtained in the NewYork Times and in the Sun with some highly favorable and complimen-tary comments. On May 2oth, Prof. Lily Ross Taylor of Bryn Mawr delivered a lecture on "Caesar Augustus, Prince and Emperor" towhich the local chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America wasinvited.26



252 THE MATURE YEARSOf course, there were moments in the history of the Society which inretrospect do not seem to have been particularly important but whichrequired attention at the time. One such occurred, when it was dis-covered that on November 19, 1932, an attempt had been made toforce the lock of one of the horizontal wall cases near the former en-

trance to the old building. This attempt at burglary warranted dis-cussion by the Council. It is true that the Council had always beenconscious of the need for security and that from the very moment whenthe first few coins were donated to the Society precautions were takento insure that they would be safe. This particular burglary attempt,however, brought this problem very quickly to the fore. Attention wascalled to the insecurity of these cases and the burglar alarm system was

found to be faulty because of the absence of an indicator to showwhich of the several alarm buttons had been affected. Nothing, how-ever, appears to have been done until March 1933 when the Curator reported that an attempt had been made to rifle the exhibition casecontaining the Bechtler coins. After an extended discussion at theCouncil meeting it was decided to close the museum to visitors untilremedial action could be taken. At the December meeting of theCouncil, Newell appointed a committee consisting of Robert J. Eidlitzand himself to consider the recommendations which had been madeby the staff during the preceding months to increase the security of thecollection. A long report was produced by Eidlitz at the followingmeeting, and the present security system stems largely from the findingsof that committee. Eidlitz was an ideal figure to aid in the work be-cause he had constructed the building and he was able to utilize thepeople in his firm who specialized in safety devices. An additional

item of expense was necessitated by this situation, but it cannot besaid that the system was foolproof as yet. On November 10, 1939, theSecretary reported the theft of three gold medals and three decorationsfrom the swinging cases in the smaller exhibition room at the Society.These objects had been purloined on or about October 19th. Onceagain the Council met and discussed the situation with a view towardsfinding a permanent remedy. Steps were taken to tighten the security

precautions still further, and this time with success.



1931-1945 253Still another interesting sidelight occurred in connection with thename of the Society. Originally it had been called The AmericanNumismatic Society. After its reorganization following the Civil War it was known as The American Numismatic and Archaeological So-ciety. In 1907, the name was changed again to its original form. In theinterval, however, the American Numismatic Association had been

organized in 1891, and incorporated in 1912. In addition it must beremembered that the Society had become the possessor of a museumand building for its functions, so that the situation had changed con-siderably since the reversion to the original name. In 1921, PresidentNewell suggested at the annual meeting that the members take cogni-zance of these facts:To my mind, the Society might consider the advisability of taking steps officiallyto name this building (with its contents) the American Numismatic Museum (or some similar title). It will naturally always remain the property of the American

Numismatic Society. My point is that outsidersâ€”and in many cases even our ownmembersâ€”do not really appreciate what our Society is or what it stands for, and somay often hesitate to present their collections to us, misguided by the name, "So-ciety." The word Museum has something definite and permanent about it, whereas theword Society apparently lacks just this all-important atmosphere.27Newell concluded by pointing out that this was merely a suggestion,but he felt that it was worthy of consideration. No action was taken atthe time, and the matter was left in abeyance for years. In 1937, theSecretary recalled this to the Council and added that the suggestion

did not involve changing the name of the Society, although it did pointin that direction and much might be urged in favor of that being done.The elimination of confusion between the Society and the AmericanNumismatic Association would certainly have been a benefit, but it isdoubtful just how effective the change to American Numismatic Mu-seum would have been in accomplishing this. A second inducementwas naturally the ease of obtaining members and support for a museumfrom non-numismatists. Lastly, the Secretary pointed out that withoutsuch a change it would become increasingly difficult to obtain a

quorum for official meetings and to find fellows who might be availableand acceptable for vacancies on the Council. His reasoning in this lastargument in favor of the change is somewhat elusive, and it has cer-



254 â„¢E MATURE YEARStainly proved wrong. Nevertheless, he brought the proposal before theCouncil, and we may surmise that it had previously been discussedwith President Newell and several Council members. At the suggestionof Samuel R. Milbank a committee was appointed to investigate thequestions raised by this proposal, and, as is so often the case in suchinstances, nothing further was heard of the project.

The year 1939 provides a suitable point for a review of the events tothat point. In the Presidential Address of that year Newell seized theopportunity to do just that. Wood had died the previous year and Noe,the Secretary, Editor, and Librarian had been appointed to succeedhim. This necessitated a complete revision of staff appointments whichhas already been covered. The following year was Noe's twenty-fifthanniversary as a member of the staff. A resolution of the Council wasenacted to commemorate the event:

Resolved that the Council considers the Society fortunate in having had theconscientious and intelligent services of Mr. Sydney P. Noe as our Secretary duringthe past twenty-five years and wishes to express its appreciation of his long, faithfuland most satisfactory work with and for The American Numismatic Society.A copy of this resolution was spread upon the Minutes.Serious work had been started in the training of new numismatists.Dr. George C. Miles, the first and only incumbent of the HuntingtonScholarship Fund, had come to the museum to work on the Mohamme-dan coins. Students of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts hadbegun work on their extensive project involving the representations of ancient buildings on coins. Close relationships had been establishedwith the various universities and scholars engaged in archae-ological research. In addition, a plan had been drawn up for making a photographic record of the entire coin collection in theSociety's cabinet. This was later carried out and resulted in a com-pleted photographic record. Exhibitions had been held from time totime, but never with the same fervor as the ones which immediately

followed the opening of the building, and attempts were made to sti-mulate a drive for memberships by special displays for the MetropolitanCoin Clubs. These yielded very gratifying results and were revived



1931-1945 255during the years 1943-1945, but interest in them was never as great asit had been at the start.The exhibitions, the publications, and the scholarly endeavors of theSociety must all give way before the growth of the collection during theyears 1930 to 1945. A simple listing of the quantity of coins and medalsacquired by the Society in any one specific year would not do justice

to the changes. The Newell bequest alone was sufficient to change thecharacter of the Society's cabinets. It would be much more appropriateto concentrate on some of the more interesting acquisitions and perhapsa few of the more amusing ones. In 1931, the Curator announced tothe Council the acquisition of the Robert Louis Stevenson plaque. TheTreasurer, who was present at that meeting, reported a story of an in-cident in connection with the modelling of the portrait. It was Saint-Gaudens himself who told the tale to Gillingham, and Gillingham'srecital of it and the letter were transcribed into the minutes. Gillingham

told the story in his own words:When in Paris during the summer of 1899, I chanced to meet that great Ameri-can sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and frequently played golf with him atMaison Lafitte, near Paris. Our luncheons on such occasions were usually taken inthe rear part of a small French grocery store and wine shop, near the golf grounds;over which was our dressing room. One day, while we ate our bread and cheese anddrank the vin ordinaire (from the bottleâ€”of course. For glasses were not served inthat primitive shop) we naturally turned to story-telling. Saint-Gaudens was givingsome of his experiences, and happened to mention that with Robert Louis Stevenson

in 1888, when he went to Manasquan, New Jersey, to finish the medallion he hadbeen working on for some time, he had taken with him his son Homer, then abouteight years old, and on the way down from New York had explained to Homer thathe was to meet a man whom he should always remember, as he was a great writer whom the world would later recognize as superior to many. Upon arriving at theUnion House at Manasquan, where Stevenson was then staying, the boy was intro-duced, and naturally was not much interested in the conversation carried on by thetwo older men, nor impressed with the sick man, then in bed; and soon the boy wentout of doors to play.

In trying to get Stevenson to properly pose, in a natural attitude, Saint-Gaudenssuggested that he write something, and try to forget the presence of the sculptor.Stevenson finally took paper and pen; and drawing up his knees, started to write,while the artist created the design of the medal in question. When Saint-Gaudens hadfinished, Stevenson was still busy writing; and folding the paper he put it into anenvelope which he adressed to "Master Homer Saint-Gaudens" and handed it to



256 THE MATURE YEARSthe father, telling him to give it to his son in five, ten or fifteen years, or "when I amdead." Here is the letter, as published in Stevenson's Letters to his Family and Friends,*and practically as described to us golfers that day in 1899 at Mai son Lafitte, bySaint-Gaudens.(*Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vol. 2, p. 125. New York, 1899).Manasquan, New Jersey,

27th May 1888Dear Homer Saint-Gaudens,â€”Your father has brought you this day to see me, and he tells me it is his hope thatyou may remember the occasion. I am going to do what I can to carry out his wish;and it may amuse you, years after, to see this little scrap of paper and to read whatI write. I must begin by testifying that you yourself took no interest whatever in theintroductions, and in the most proper spirit displayed a single-minded ambition toget back to play, and this I thought an excellent and admirable point in your char-acter. You were also (I use the past tense, with a view to the time when you shall

read, rather than to that when I am writing) a very pretty boy, and to my Europeanviews, startlingly self-possessed.My time of observation was so limited that you must pardon me if I can say nomore; what else I marked, what restlessness of foot and hand, what graceful clumsi-ness, what experimental designs upon the furniture, was but the common inheritanceof human youth. But you may perhaps like to know that the lean flushed man inbed, who interested you so little, was in a state of mind extremely mingled and un-pleasant: harassed with work which he thought he was not doing well, troubled withdifficulties to which you will in time succeed, and yet looking forward to no less a

matter than a voyage to the South Seas and the visitation of savage and desertislands.Your father's friend,Robert Louis StevensonThus, there was a story to accompany the new acquisition, and theconnection with the Society was clearly established through the personof Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The original design of the medal, as de-picted on the specimen acquired by the Society in 1931, was later altered and enlarged for the panel made by Saint-Gaudens for St.

Giles Church in Edinburgh, where Stevenson is shown with a pen inhand and paper on his knee. A single medal of this type is not in itself of any great importance, but the fact that Saint-Gaudens had been soclosely connected with the Society and was so well known as the fore-most American sculptor gave the piece added significance when it wasrelated to the incident.



1931-1945 257During the same year in which the Stevenson plaque was acquiredthe death of Bauman L. Belden occurred. He had been a member of the Society since 1886 and a life member since 1910. As Secretary from1905 to 1915 and as Director from 1909 to 1915 as well as a member of the Council from 1906 to 1928 and an Honorary Councillor from 1928

to 1931 he had truly devoted himself to the interests of the organi-zation. His contributions to the science of numismatics and services tothe institution were duly recalled by a resolution of the Council whichwas spread upon the Minutes when news of his death was made public.At the sale of his effects, the Council decided to make a small appro-priation to be used for the acquisition of such items as the remainingcopies of his publications on United States War Medals and certain other pieces which the library might need. It also made available funds for

the repurchase at auction of various publications issued by the Societywhich were in Belden's library.Two years later the Society was fortunate enough to secure a largepart of the famous Gampola hoard of 494 larins and 53 other coins. Inthe very next year, this hoard was the subject of a monograph producedby Howland Wood.28 Dr. Casey Wood, who made this donation, re-quested that part of the hoard be retained for the cabinet of the Societyand that the remainder be used either as gifts or in trading with other

museums or for sale so that the proceeds might be used to increase theholdings. The hoard itself had been found at Gampola in Ceylon whereit was acquired by Dr. Wood. A selection of 160 coins was retained.29In the same year, 1933, a gift of 488 medals was bequeathed fromthe collection of Dr. George F. Kunz. Kunz had been one of the mostactive of the Society's members and officers. The role which he hadplayed in the production of many of the early medals of the Society hasbeen fully described. As a result of his connection with Tiffany and

Company he was enabled to acquire many very rare pieces which wereissued through that firm. His bequest consisted chiefly of United Statesand European medals including some Russian pieces. Of great interestin this gift was a gold piece commemorating the victory at New Orleansby Andrew Jackson.30 This medal was struck by Congress.The accessions for the year 1933 were particularly important, bothin medals and in oriental coinage. The Medallic Art Company and17



258 THE MATURE YEARSPresident Newell continued their longstanding practice of donating tothe museum. Perhaps the most interesting of the medallic piecesacquired during the year was a satirical piece issued to commemorate anevent of some public attention. On August 28th of that year Senator Huey Long of Louisiana had gone to the washroom at the Sands Point

Bath Club, and there he had been hit in the eye by an unknown assail-ant who apparently disapproved of the Senator. This event was dulyreported in the press with some fanfare, and Owen P. White, thenovelist and Associate Editor of Collier's magazine, had made thepublic suggestion in jest that the assailant should be awarded a goldmedal. The populace immediately responded with a series of contri-butions to defray the expense, and in a very short time the sum of

$ 1,000 had been raised to accomplish this purpose. White was nowtroubled because even after the medal had been designed and struck hethought that the only way he could dispose of it would be to present itto the trophy room of the Sands Point Bath Club because "no dignifiedmuseum would be frivolous enough to accept it." Newell, upon re-ceipt of this report, promptly wrote to White explaining that TheAmerican Numismatic Society was "one of the most dignified museumsin this country," and that he considered the washroom medal a publicexpression of the American people. He therefore requested that themuseum should be its repository. On September 2oth, a ceremony washeld at the museum to make the gift. A vacant chair was presentthroughout the event so that the assailant might claim his reward, butno one came forward. In making the presentation, White said, "Thisis an historic occasion. It is unique. Perhaps not in the annals of anycountry, certainly not in the annals of this one, has there ever been a

moment like it."Newell replied, "My interest in the medal is purely numismatic.When I learned from the newspaper accounts that this unknown herohad not been positively identified, or at any rate was too modest tocome forward and admit his identity publicly, I thought perhaps theSociety and its museum might become the repository for the medal.Accordingly, I wrote to Mr. White, whom I had never met, and the

result is the ceremony today. I appreciate the honor of accepting thismedal commemorating the act of this noble but unknown hero. I feel



1931-1945 259sure it will find its place in history along with the medals presented atMarathon. Some day it may hang side by side with the medal pre-sented by the Emperor Honorius to the general who defeated Alaric,the Goth, the inscription on which reads: 'Triumphator barbarorum,'which means 'the conqueror of the barbarians.'"

The statement issued by Newell in his Presidential Address of 1934explains more completely his motives in entering into what was essen-tially a political controversy. In that speech he said, "The part weplayed in what may be termed the affair of the Huey Long Medal hadfor its purpose the ideal of better government and the discouragementof unworthy individuals in high office. By this we have secured for our collection a unique gold satirical medal of historic, artistic and civicvalue; considerable publicity at no cost to ourselves; a good laugh in

these far too serious times; as well as numerous complimentary re-marks anent our bold stand for civic virtue." Perhaps this was spreadingthe numismatic veneer rather thinly and transparently over an incidentfraught with political overtones. Certainly the design of the piece byGeorge DeZayas was quite clever, but it could not be pointed to as awork of artistic excellence and was not intended to be such. It was agold medal suspended by two chains from a bar pin, and the lengthincluding the chains and pin was about four inches. The shape of the

entire medal was suggested by the fact that the incident took place inthe washroom, and on the obverse there was depicted a Kingfish, theface of which was being struck by a fist issuing near a washbowl withtwo faucets of running water. A crown was to be seen falling from thehead of the fish, and to the right of the design was the date MCM-xxxill. Upon the lower border was the inscription PUBLICO CONCILIOPRO RE IN CAMERA GESTA which may be translated as "By PublicAcclaim for a Deed Done in Private." The reverse of the original had

the inscription PRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETYSEPTEMBER 20, 1933. It was displayed in a case with a card reading,"Medal to the Unknown Hero Who Hit Huey Long. Deposited in theMuseum of the American Numismatic Society by the AmericanPeople."Naturally it attracted a great number of visitors, and Wood reportedfive days after the presentation that over 100 people came on each day17*



260 THE MATURE YEARSto view it. It was even found wise to issue copies of the piece without thepin and chains with a different reverse inscription: BY / PUBLIC AC-CLAIM / FOR A DEED / DONE IN PRIVATE / SANDS POINT / AUGUST 26 / 1933.31The Medallic Art Company sold these replicas in some quantity andthus proved the popularity of the piece.In addition, the year 1933 witnessed the purchase of two most inter-

esting silver bars of the Han Dynasty of the first century A.D. Thesewere of extreme rarity and were accompanied by a small inscribedgold bar or nugget, which if it could be established as a coin, mightantedate by centuries any coin previously known. This gold bar wasconfided to several Chinese scholars to determine whether it was to beattributed to the later part of the Yin Dynasty in the middle of thetwelfth century B.C. or the first part of the Chow Dynasty which suc-ceeded it. No definite conclusion has yet been reached.Even the depression years of the thirties do not seem to have seriously

affected the quantity and value of the Society's acquisitions. In 1933,the H.A. Schnakenberg Collection was dispersed by the death of theowner. Fifty-six pieces from that collection were donated to the So-ciety by the heir in memory of his father. This gift included many im-portant specimens particularly in the gold series of European coins.32In November of the same year, the F. Munroe Endicott Collection waspresented by Mrs. George Endicott, the sister-in-law of the collector,and DeWitt Endicott, his nephew. F. Munroe Endicott had been anenthusiastic collector in his youth. He was a secretary in the American

Legation in Cairo when his imagination was aroused by the largestfind of silver coins of Alexander the Great ever unearthed, the Deman-hur Hoard. With his friend Sir Ronald Storrs, of the British Mission,who was later Governor of Jerusalem and Cyprus, Endicott spent hisspare time searching for Alexander's coinage. The finest and rarest of the coins from the great hoard were divided between these two. Amongthe pieces secured by Endicott was one on which the name of Nikokles,the King of Paphos, was inscribed in the lion's scalp. This piece waspublished with his permission by Newell in the Numismatic Chronicle

in 1919. The Demanhur Hoard provided Newell with the material for a reattribution of the coinage of Alexander the Great.33 When thematerial from the hoard had been exhausted, Endicott continued to



1931-1945 261collect coins of the Ptolemies and later Roman issues of Alexandria.Later, he began to acquire the Greek issues of Italy and Sicily as wellas fine portrait types of the Roman series. Finally, he came into posses-sion of the Catacombs Hoard of Roman imperial denarii. When hiscollection was given to the Society it contained about 500 denarii,

nearly all of which were in mint condition and formed the basis for adescription of the collection.34In 1934, theO.P. Eklund Collection was dispersed through sale. Ek-lund had devoted himself to the study of minor coinages and his listings,country by country, had appeared over a number of years in TheNumismatist. From time to time, the Society had been the recipient of gifts of sections of his collection which had already served the collec-

tor's purpose. Still other portions of the collection were acquired by pur-chase, and in 1949 one group of pieces from this collection formed animportant part of a monograph devoted to the Hacienda Tokens of Mexico.35 In addition, the beautifully organized books of pencilledrubbings prepared by Eklund were donated to the library.Two great losses suffered by the Society in 1936 must be mentioned.The death of Richard Hoe Lawrence broke one of the last links withthe early history of the Society. He had become a member in 1878 andhad served as Curator in 1879 as well as Librarian from 1880 to 1885.He was one of the most active members, and it was as a result of hislabors that the first published catalogue of the library was printedas well as a volume devoted to the Paduan imitations of Roman im-perial sestertii. In his later years, he had lived in retirement, but he hadnever severed his connection with the Society and was one of the oldestmembers when he died. After his death, Mrs. Lawrence presented his

collection of 591 Roman coins, chiefly denarii, and a few lesser piecesincluding some electrotypes. After the complete settlement of theestate, a total of 720 very fine coins, 415 of which were of the RomanRepublican series and 155 of the Imperial type, chiefly of silver andbronze, were donated by Mrs. Jessie C. Lawrence. They had been col-lected with great care by her husband. The Richard Hoe LawrenceLibrary had already been acquired in 1899 through the generosity of

Daniel Parish, Jr.The other great loss sustained in that year was the death of Arthur C.



262 THE MATURE YEARSWyman. He had filled the office of Assistant Curator during the years1918 to 1921. Later when he moved to California, Wyman continuedto take an active interest in all aspects of numismatics and continuallywent out of his way to further the interests of the Society even though hewas far from its home. At his request, the Society was allowed to cull his

collection for the pieces that it lacked. He had already donated a groupof coins made of nickel, 660 in number, to the Society in 1932 whichwas in addition to other gifts given both before and after that date. Fromhis collection another eighty-five pieces were selected after his death.36These blows, however, had been preceded by an even more severeone at the very beginning of the period covered in this chapter. OnJanuary 30, 1931, John Reilly, Jr., died in a New York hospital after

undergoing a serious operation. He was then only fifty-five years old.He had been educated at Princeton University, where he had done anadditional four years of post-graduate work in electrical engineering.Apparently his interest in numismatics was stimulated when veryyoung and his specialization in oriental numismatics owed its originto meeting, in a visit to Japan in 1909, Henry A.Ramsden, a distinguish-ed scholar in that field. It was during that visit that Reilly acquired theDr. Neil Gordon Munro Collection, a portion of which had appearedin Dr. Munro's The Coins of Japan, published in 1904. Reilly continuedto add to his collection all types of objects with numismatic represen-tations, and upon the death of Ramsden he succeeded in acquiring theextensive collection of that savant. This vast body of numismatic ma-terial arrived in New York in 1917 and was the subject of an address tothe Society on March 7, 1918.37 Reilly's collection was housed in theSociety's building and special arrangements were made when the

museum was enlarged to permit him personally to care for it.88Naturally, there was great interest in the numismatic world in thefate of the magnificent Reilly Collection after the death of its owner.39In 1938, Miss Frances Reilly, his daughter, made a gift of the entirecollection and cabinets to the Society and thus placed the institutionin the forefront of those possessing oriental coins. The Council promptlydeclared Miss Reilly a Benefactor.40

The collection itself contained more than 27,000 items predomi-nantly of Chinese origin. It included a select library to which subsequent



1931-1945 263additions were made as the opportunity efforded and which hasformed the basis for two monographs published by the Society.41Mr. Reilly's successor on the Council was General DeWitt ClintonFalls, who filled out the unexpired term. General Falls was subse-quently re-elected to the Council until his death in 1937. He also left

a substantial bequest to the Society.In the same year, 1938, in which the Reilly Collection and the be-quest from General Falls were received, a gift from George H. Clappmade it possible to acquire the E. P. Robinson Collection. In addition,Clapp donated part of his own collection of large U.S. Cents whichwas in time to give the Society a fair claim to having the finest col-lection of these pieces to be found anywhere. To this donation there

were made various additions until 1946 when the entire mass of material was in the possession of the Society. With the original gift, afund of $5,000 was presented so that still further acquisitions might bemade as they appeared on the market.42Of particular significance was a bequest received in October 1937and displayed at the November meeting of the following year. HerbertScoville had made it a custom to give generously to the Society everyChristmas as well as at various other times. On his death, his collectionof Renaissance and later coins of the Italian Peninsula, consisting of â‚¬n gold pieces, 2,265 silver, and 628 coppers or bronzes as well as131 miscellaneous specimens, was donated to the Society. This was awell-rounded representation of the issues of the Italian city-states, in-cluding a great many pieces of unusual distinction. The coinages of Milan, Florence, and Savoy were especially well represented. Sincethis was an area of numismatic interest which had not been particu-

larly cultivated, it was of more than usual significance.43The need for funds, however, was always as great as the need for ad-ditions to the collections. It would have been impossible to carry outthe work of the Society if there had not been public spirited citizenswilling to aid in material fashion. One such was Mrs. Emma Brunner,who left a sum of money to the Society which equalled that of GeneralFalls at approximately the same time. Naturally, both were elected

Benefactors and their names were inscribed on the tablets which areplaced in the entrance to the museum.



264 THE MATURE YEARSThe death of Robert J. Eidlitz in 1933 was one of the many whichdeeply affected the Society. Eidlitz' firm, it will be remembered, hadactually built the second edifice which served as part of the Society'shome, and he had been most constant in his support of the variousactivities of the institution. Since 1916 he had been a Fellow of the

Society and a member of the Council. In 1927, he was the recipient of the Huntington Medal, and his passing was the occasion for a tributeby President Newell.44 During his life, Eidlitz had assembled a col-lection of some 5,000 medals related chiefly to architecture, and hehad acquired a library to make it possible for him to study these pieces.Under the terms of his will this magnificent collection and library wereto be retained by Mrs. Eidlitz for as long a period as she chose, and

afterwards they were to be given to the Society. In April 1940, Mrs.Eidlitz was named a Benefactor of the institution five years after her husband had been so named in 1935. Since Robert J. Eidlitz had al-ready published a book relating to these medals, Medals and MedallionsRelating to Architects, the form of the book was chosen for the displaywhich was eminently successful and received mention in the local pressas well as in some of the architectural periodicals.45In 1940, two other choice collections were received by the Society.The George W. Husker Greek Collection, consisting of 221 pieces of silver and bronze, was presented. Despite its seemingly small size itwas extremely valuable because it added materially to the represen-tation of the cities of Asia Minor. In addition, so many of the pieceswere in fine condition that it was a truly important asset. The Romanportion of this collection was sold at auction in 1951, and the Societywas successful in purchasing eighty-six pieces.46 At the same time the

magnificent John F. Jones Collection was offered to the Society. Thiscontained fine coins in superlative condition which had been culledfrom sales of other connoisseurs such as Howorth, Betts, and Bastow,with a Brazilian group built up from the Meili cabinet. Mrs. EdwardT. Newell contributed the cost for the Barbary States coins, and Mrs.George P. Cammann for the pieces of the Knights of Malta. Well over 5,000 specimens were acquired, and they represented the fruits of nearly

fifty years of intensive work in collecting.47Mrs. Cammann was also instrumental in improving the holdings of



1931-1945 265the Society in Greek coinage, particularly in issues of Corinth and her colonies as well as in imitations of the Corinthian type. Many of thesepieces had been illustrated in her monograph on the symbols to be foundon Corinthian staters.48 These were given to the Society over a period of years in addition to an extensive selection of badges, given to donors to

the many relief agencies, which she had assembled during World War I.The largest of all gifts of coins and medals ever received by the So-ciety, however, was that of Edward T. Newell. Throughout the historyof the Society to this point there has been continuous mention of themany donations presented by Newell to forward the study of numis-matics. Newell was in no sense a dilletante, and his works in numis-matics bore the stamp of scholarly research. It is an extensive bibliog-

raphy which Newell contributed to the science of numismatics, andby far the largest part of it was devoted to Hellenic and Hellenisticcoinages.49 He was at the same time one of those rare individuals whocould combine the talents for practical administration with scholarlyresearch and a continuous output of original ideas. It was Newell whohad urged most ardently the enlargement of the museum building andwho took an active part in the careful planning which preceded thecompletion of that enterprise in 1931. During his term as President,and largely as a result of his own endeavors, success crowned theefforts of the organization to be recognized as an aid to which exca-vators could turn. Relations with other learned bodies were improvedand in many cases established for the first time under his leadership.He was also most generous in his gifts to further the aims of the Society.In 1916, he presented not only his own Mohammedan collection,numbering 5,000 pieces, but he purchased and added the collection

formed by Howland Wood. The following year, he supplemented thisby the gift of his Arabic glass weights. In the course of succeeding years,Newell was instrumental in whole or in part in the acquisition of theStarosselsky, Hoernle, Valentine, and other collections. Finally in De-cember, just two months before his death, he presented a major sectionof his Sassanian coins which numbered some 1200. It was also as aresult of his efforts that arrangements were made with the Metropoli-

tan Museum of Art for the permanent loan of Durkee, Mills, and other collections.



266 THE MATURE YEARSNewell's early life and his connection with the Society have alreadybeen treated at some length. His death on February 18, 1941, seemedto mark the end of a definite period, and the Council expressed itsshock in a resolution which was transmitted to Newell's family and waslater published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of 1942. At the

same time the entire numismatic world was taken aback at the loss of one of its most illustrious sons. Obituaries in honor of Newell appearedin most of the numismatic periodicals.50When the Council met the following month it was faced with thetask of finding the right members to fill Newell's various offices. SamuelR. Milbank was unanimously elected to succeed to the post on theBoard of Governors, but action with respect to filling the vacancy on

the Council was delayed for a month. The members of the Board of Governors now met to find a successor to Newell as President. Onlythree Governors were present at that meeting on March I3th, imme-diately following the Council meeting, but the discussion was a livelyone which traced all the difficulties now facing the Society. StephenH. P. Pell was nominated to carry on in the Presidential position for the unexpired portion of Newell's tenure. At the same time DouglasP. Dickie was appointed to succeed Newell on the Finance Committee.Quite naturally, Newell's sudden death had brought to the fore theknowledge that the Society had functioned throughout the period of hisPresidency without a Vice-President. This was obviously the source of some of the difficulties then faced. It was decided to prepare an amend-ment whereby one or more Vice-Presidents would be duly constituted toserve in the event of a similar misfortune at a later date. This wascarried even further, when, in the course of the discussions by the

Council, it was moved that the officers of the Society be empowered toselect such assistants as they deemed proper. It was expected that theassistants would be kept fully informed of all matters pertaining to thecomplete functioning of their offices. An amendment establishing theelection of not more than three Vice-Presidents was passed at theAnnual Meeting of January 10, 1942.Two days after the Annual Meeting, the Council met to elect a new

President to lead the group. On the suggestion of Stephen H. P. Pell,who had only consented to assume the duties and responsibilities



1931-1945 267during the emergency of the intervening period, Dr. Herbert E. Iveswas elected. This was an extremely wise choice because Dr. Ives washimself a scholar, though in the physical sciences rather than primarilyin the humanistic disciplines. He was at that time on the research staff of the Bell Telephone Laboratories and serving as advisor to our governmentin the installation of radar devices. It was a crucial moment in the

history of the Society because three members of the staff had departedfor war service. Dr. Ives took cognizance of these facts in his PresidentialAddress:I shall alter this order, and ask you first to look around, to see how the Societyis affected by the difficult and crucial conditions in which we live. For these condi-tions have inevitably affected what we have been able to do in the past year, andwill similarly affect what we can plan for the future. Our activities during the pastyear have been curtailed by very severe drafting of our personnel for the war. Twomembers of the Council are in the armed services, and another elected member

could not accept office because of the assumption of war work. Our Museum staff has been nearly cut in half by men going from us to the army. Similarly, of our activemembership we have a large honor roll. Under these conditions, of necessity, our normal activities have been reduced. We have not had our full quota of those Satur-day afternoon lectures, which have been of such great interest in the past few years.Our publications have been somewhat reduced in number. The gatherings of enthu-siastic numismatists on Saturday afternoons have been less well attended. The loadon the remaining members of our staff has been greatly increased, and their oppor-tunities for new productive work diminished.61

After recalling the fact that the Society was in a good financialsituation at the moment, he pointed out that the income from the investedfunds was decreasing and showed every indication of continuing to doso. As a result he advised that the present was not an auspicious mo-ment to undertake new ambitious plans and enterprises. Everythingpointed to the prudent course of retaining a contracted staff and per-severing as far as possible in the course that had been outlined. At thesame time there were things upon which the Society could congratulateitself. An outstanding exhibition of the seventeenth century coinage of

the Americas including the Willow Tree, Pine Tree, and Oak Treecoinages of Massachusetts had been held. As a result of this exhibitiona monograph had been produced on the seventeenth century hoardfound at Castine, Maine.52 The principal task, in the near future of the



268 THE MATURE YEARSSociety lay in the acquisition of the famous Newell Collection. Theentire collection, with the exception of 1,000 coins, was willed to theSociety and at the same time was accompanied by two new funds.Newell had bequeathed a sum of $50,000 to be used as a coin purchasefund and another sum of $25,000 as an "endowment fund" with the

"request that the same be used in aid of the publication of NumismaticWorks." Naturally the acquisition of these coins and medals as wellas the funds was a process requiring some years, and it will be treatedin the succeeding chapter. For the moment, it was found wise to main-tain the current arrangement of the pieces and to appoint Mrs. AdraM. Newell as Honorary Curator of the E.T. Newell Collection.Naturally, the Newell bequest far outshone all others given to the

Society during the period, but there were others of great value. In thevery year of Newell's death, there also occurred the death of W. GedneyBeatty. At one time Beatty had been a member of the Council, and inhis will he declared the organization a beneficiary of his estate for asizeable sum. W. Gedney Beatty was therefore named a Benefactor of the Society, and it was decided that the fund thus established, which wasto be known as the W. Gedney Beatty Purchase Fund, was to be usedtowards the acquisition of Greek coins.53 This was consistent withBeatty's interests, for he had also bequeathed to the Society his collec-tion of Greek and ancient coins. This was truly a magnificent gift be-cause it included 1,037 silver and thirteen gold pieces extending fromthe archaic to the Hellenistic periods. Beatty had been attracted by thearchaic style and had deliberately chosen to limit his collection to cer-tain mints rather than to attempt to form a more representative show-ing. Thus the mint of Tarentum was represented by thirty-five coins,

that of Heracleia by eighteen, Metapontum by fifty-one, Thurium bythirty-eight, Velia by twenty-four, Croton by twenty-three, Terina bytwenty, Syracuse by fifty-six, Neapolis Macedoniae by twenty-two,Thasos by thirty-four, Boeotia by sixty, Athens by eighty-six, whichwere primarily early issues, Aegina by fifty-four, Corinth by ninety-eight, twenty-three from the Corinthian colonies, Elis by thirty-eightand Chios by twenty-four. Many of these pieces came from well-known

collections throughout the world and impressively enriched the So-ciety's cabinet.54



1931-1945 269Also in 1941, another collection which was noted for the condition of the individual pieces appeared on the market. Dr. Edward P. Robinson,a resident of Newport, Rhode Island, had assembled a large number of excellent Greek and Roman silver and bronze pieces as well as somemiscellaneous specimens of other coinage. The Greek silver was acquired

by a private individual, but a portion of the remainder was obtainedfor the Society through the generosity of George H. Clapp. In 1926, Dr.Robinson had presented 133 Becker forgeries in lead from his collection,so the new acquisitions formed part of a still larger unit from this col-lection.55 Among the coins which were obtained in 1941 were another 578 Greek bronzes, 507 Roman bronzes, 63 English pieces, and 350assorted miscellaneous coins.66 This gift was accompanied by still an-

other from James J. Rorimer which included 345 pieces, 188 of whichwere of the Roman series, and the others from Northern Europe. Inthis collection there was a magnificent gold piece of Charles XI of Sweden which had been struck at Riga, and a considerable number of Russian coins which had not been represented in the Society'scabinet. James J. Rorimer, then Curator of Mediaeval Art at theMetropolitan Museum of Art and later Director of that institution, hadnaturally taken great care in assembling this collection, so it was doublyvaluable.57Three other collections of note were also acquired during the periodbefore 1945. Henry B. Barnes donated a group of 414 miscellaneouscoins and medals in 1943 at about the same time that Emil W. Kohnpresented his collection of 823 artistic medals. The gift of Emil W. Kohnincluded 92 silver medals, 43 silver plaques, 412 bronze medals, and 262plaques in the same metal as well as 14 miscellaneous specimens. This

was a gift of sufficient significance to warrant the declaration of Mr.Kohn as a Patron of the Society.Harrold E. Gillingham had assumed the Chairmanship of the Com-mittee on Decorations and War Medals in 1920. His interest in thisphase of the Society's activities was continuous and his efforts untiring.Four monographs on the subject of decorations came from his penduring the years 1928 through 1940, and these were published by the

institution.58 As each of these volumes was completed, that correspond-ing part of his collection was transferred to the museum. Finally, in



270 THE MATURE YEARS1944, Gillingham presented his entire collection of United States coinswhich had been started in his youth. He also granted permission todispose of the duplicates and to use the proceeds for further purchases.This permitted the addition of 120 pieces and the purchase of two wellknown Willow Tree issues which were not then in the Society's pos-

session.59Thus it happened that the Society during the period from 1930 to1945, the years of the depression and the war which caused such dis-location for the entire world, not only succeeded in maintaining itsposition among the learned bodies but even furthered it. The issuanceof medals was not as actively pursued but the scholarly functions of theinstitution were augmented and given a greater degree of emphasis.

The collection was built up in massive steps such as had not been wit-nessed before, and connections with other learned groups and organi-zations were fostered. For the future the path was clearly marked, andthe organization stepped forth boldly into the post-war era.



THE PEAK I945-I958end of the Second World War found the Society relatively un-touched in the material sense that it was one of the few institutions of its kind in the world which had not suffered any physical damage.Several of the members of the museum staff, however, had put on

uniforms and entered the service for the duration of the conflict, andas a result the Society was very largely dormant. Its resources for pub-lication of new work grew materially in purely monetary terms be-cause the incomes from the individual funds and investments continuedto be received, but the various expenditures which were normallymade in carrying out the activities of the institution had been curtailed.In other areas of the organization's activities, however, the rising costs

of operation more than offset the gains made by the war. The Societyduring the war years "â€”like others of its kind not immediately asso-ciated with the national emergencyâ€”endeavored to maintain itsexisting facilities without attempting to enlarge its range of activities."1It was not completely possible to restrict the activities of the Society tosimple routine matters because it will be remembered that PresidentNewell's death just before the entry of the United States into the globalconflict had created a great many new problems for the organization.2Not the least of these problems was the absorption of the truly mag-271



272 THE PEAK nificent Newell bequest of 87,603 coins. In this task the Society wasvery fortunate in securing the aid and advice of Mrs. Newell who hadbeen appointed Honorary Curator of the E.T. Newell Collection. Mrs.Newell has continued the interest of her husband and contributedgenerously to the success of the Society.

The receipt of the Newell bequest is not something that may be passedover lightly, but rather something which deserves to be recalled withfrequency. It was impossible during the war years to integrate thematerial from the Society's prior holdings with the new pieces fromthe Newell Collection. Even as late as 1947, the Committee on Ar-rangement of Collections was still troubled with this problem. Thereport of that Committee utilized round figures for estimating the size

of the various collections but it does give us an approximation of theproblem. The Newell Collection contained about 60,000 Greek coins,23,000 Roman pieces, and 2,000 Byzantine. The Society's own hold-ings at the same time were estimated at 10,000 Greek, 7,000 Roman,and 1,000 Byzantine coins. In addition, there were 477 Greek andRoman coins on loan from the Morgan Library in the cabinets of theSociety.3 It is clear from this that even though the Newell Collectionhad been magnificently cared for, boxed and labelled by Newell him-self, and that labels and notes had been inserted into each box, thetask of integration was overwhelming. Scholars throughout the variouscountries had followed Newell's work with the greatest attention, andthe members of the Society were anxious to view segments of thismagnificent treasure. Even during the war, in November 1944, at thetime of the acceptance of the bequest, an exhibition was held of someof the specimens.

With this vast increase in the holdings of the Society it was neces-sary to make certain changes in the library arrangements so that thecoins could be studied in the vault. It was decided that the best so-lution was to create a second highly specialized library in the vicinityof the vault for duplicate copies of the volumes on ancient numismatics.As many of these texts as were available plus duplicate sets of theperiodicals were immediately moved into the ante-room. There they

were shelved together with new volumes which were purchased ex-pressly for use in the so-called Newell Room Library which was being



1945-1958 273formed. New shelving was installed, and funds were made available tocomplete the entire project.It was entirely fitting that the area in which Newell had carried onthe greater part of his researches should be devoted to commemoratinghis great contributions to numismatic research. Accordingly, thesculptor George Lober, who was a member of the Society, executed amemorial plaque which was placed in the Newell Rooms. On thisplaque were inscribed the words: THESE â€¢ WERE â€¢ THE / WORK ROOMSOF â€¢ EDWARD â€¢ T â€¢ NEWELL / WHOSE â€¢ EMINENCE â€¢ AS / A â€¢ NUMISMATIST WAS /UNIVERSALLY â€¢ RECOGNIZED â€¢ BY â€¢ SCHOLARS / AND â€¢ WHOSE â€¢ GENEROUS /HELPFULNESS â€¢ ENDEARED / HIM â€¢ TO â€¢ A â€¢ HOST â€¢ OF / FRIENDS. The unveil-ing of this commemorative plaque was preceded by a series of movingaddresses by Professor T. Leslie Shear of Princeton University, Mrs.Agnes Baldwin Brett and Professor Thomas O. Mabbott of Hunter College as well as the reading of a message from Mrs. Newell. The fulltexts of these addresses and a photograph of the plaque were publishedin the Proceedings of 1945.*The twelve years following the war and the immense Newell bequestwere actually destined to be the most active in the entire history of theSociety. With the acquisition of this new collection, the resources for

research were tremendously strengthened, and for the first time theSociety's collection, as opposed to that of any individual in the UnitedStates, achieved primacy. At the same time that this added responsi-bilty was placed upon the Society in terms of the contents of its ca-binets, an increase in the endowment fund made it possible for theorganization to fulfill more adequately its appointed tasks. At theAnnual Meeting in 1946, President Ives announced a very generousgift of a large block of securities from an anonymous donor. The donor was Mr. Archer M. Huntington, whose revived interest in the group wasto serve as a stimulus to the succeeding groups of officers. President Ivescontinued in his remarks to recognize that this new increment to the

funds of the Society had to be used wisely. "With this increment we canplan with some definiteness those increases of activity which before wecould only speak of as pressing and desirable. First of all, we plan toincrease the staff of the museum, and are already canvassing the fieldto secure persons whose training, equipment and chosen fields of study18



274 THE PEAK make them desirable candidates for future positions on the staff of what we consider justifiably one of the most important institutions inour field in the world."5President Ives outlined a three-point program for the most advanta-geous utilization of the new resources at the disposal of the Society.

This program involved an increase in the staff of the museum, an in-crease in the training program for students, and an expansion of pub-lication plans.Those who followed President Ives have adhered to that outline andin some instances carried his proposals even beyond his fondest dreams.The result has been an enormous growth in the stature of the organi-zation among the world's learned societies. Such growth cannot be

measured in purely statistical terms of growth of membership or in-crease in the endowment, library and cabinet; it must be gauged interms of the effectiveness of the organization in carrying out its primaryscientific and academic tasks. Of course, there were disappointmentssuch as the withdrawal of the Morgan Collection from the vaults of theSociety in 1949 so that it might be disposed of on the market. In general,however, the growth of the Society was steady and clear.With the increased activity found at the museum during the nextdozen years, it became necessary to arrange for proper photographicfacilities. In the past, one of the assistant curators had acted as photo-grapher, and the developing and printing was done commercially. By1947, it was found that this procedure placed too great a burden on thetime of the assistant curator, and in July of that year a committee con-sisting of Bellinger, Ives, and Nesmith was appointed to re-examine theentire problem with a view to improving arrangements. Their in-

vestigation revealed that the assistant curator, William Clark, hadundertaken the task of photographing the objects for the museumsome eight years earlier when a professional photographer had relin-quished the Society's work. Since the photographic facilities of the So-ciety were utilized by private individuals as well, Clark was kept quitebusy with what had started as merely an additional duty. The Com-mittee proposed that a complete photographic department would be

advisable with skilled professional employees handling the work. To-wards the end of 1947, it proved possible to organize a photographic de-



1945-1958 275partment under the care of DeVere W. Baker, a professional photo-grapher with varied experience. When Baker retired in 1954, he wasasked to train his successor, Raymond Johnson, who has successfullycarried on the work of the department.At an even earlier date, May 1941, the Society had begun to expand

the staff of the curatorial department. In that month, Mrs. Aline Abae-cherli Boyce was asked to join the staff as Assistant to the Curator. Shelater became Curator of Roman and Byzantine coins. Mrs. Boyce hadreceived a bachelor's degree from Cincinnati and a master's and doc-toral degree from Bryn Mawr. She had also done some teaching as amember of the faculties of Bryn Mawr and Cincinnati in the field of Classics and had studied at the American Academy in Rome. Her primary field of interest was Roman numismatics, and she was prompt-

ly put in charge of that aspect of the collection. In 1943, when her husband was called into service in the Army, Mrs. Boyce took a year'sleave, but she returned the following year to remain with the Societyuntil 1956. In that year, she resigned from the staff to go with her husband to the University of Michigan.In 1946, George C. Miles, who had served as Honorary Curator of Mohammedan Coins, joined the staff of the Society in connection withthe loan of the collection of The Hispanic Society of America which

will be discussed at a later point. Miles' connection with Oriental studieshad been extensive, and he had taken an active part in excavations inPersia. In 1948, the American Oriental Society held a meeting in NewYork, and for that meeting, at Miles' suggestion, a very extensive dis-play of the Oriental coins in the cabinet of the Society was arranged.Notice of this exhibition was released to the press and appeared in theNew York Sun and the Herald Tribune. The New York World-Telegramprinted a feature story on the second day of the exhibition in which it

was combined with the meeting of the Orientalists. Attendance at thisdisplay, which opened on March 3oth, was good. The American Orien-tal Society, cognizant of the fact that the exhibition had been plannedto coincide with their annual meeting, and that a special invitation hadbeen extended to them passed a resolution thanking the AmericanNumismatic Society. That resolution read, "The members of the Amer-ican Oriental Society express their deep appreciation of the action of 18*



276 THE PEAK the President and Council of The American Numismatic Society inpreparing and placing on view on the occasion of the Annual Meetingof the American Oriental Society a special exhibition of the coinages of the ancient, mediaeval, and modern East. This exhibition was visitedand enjoyed by many of the members of the Oriental Society." The

general success of this exhibition was noted by President Dewing in hisaddress at the Annual Meeting in I94Q.6The character of the Society itself changed materially during thislast dozen years from what was a local group with local membershipeven if it was of international importance. In 1920, sixty percent of themembership of the Society was drawn from New York City. By 1958,only nineteen percent was drawn from the same source. During this

same period, the percentage of foreign members had grown from fiveto twenty-one. This trend, which was noticed in 1951, and commentedupon at that time, has also been reflected in an increase in institutionalmembers such as university libraries, until they reached eight percentof the total membership. It was noticeable in other aspects of the So-ciety's activities. A representative of the Society was present at theGerman Numismatic Congress in Munich in I95O.7 In the very nextyear a selection of the Society's medallic issues was sent to the Inter-national Exhibition of Medals held in Madrid from November 18th toDecember 2nd. Most important, however, in demonstrating the inter-national character of the Society was the succession of foreign scholarswho spent time at the museum during the period. In 1945, Dr. HenriSeyrig, Commissioner of Antiquities for Syria, delivered a lecture atthe museum on the "Tesserae of Palmyra."8 In 1950, Dr. C. H. V.Sutherland of Oxford University delivered a lecture on "What is

Meant by Style in Coinage?" At that same meeting, Dr. Sutherland,in his capacity as President of the Royal Numismatic Society, honoredSydney P. Noe, the Chief Curator, when he presented him with thatSociety's silver medal. This was a signal honor not only for Noe, but italso reflected credit on the American Numismatic Society.During succeeding years, the number of foreign scholars of renownwho came to the Society increased materially as a direct result of the

educational functions of the organization. When a program of graduatestudy was instituted in 1952, it became incumbent on the Society to



1945-1958 277furnish educational opportunities for these students. With that in mindmen such as Philip Grierson, Henri Seyrig, Andreas Alfoldi, C. H.V.Sutherland, and G. K. Jenkins were asked to aid in that program.All these men spent some months at the museum and contributedgreatly to the success of this program which will be discussed at a

later point.The great expansion of the Society's activities and reputation wasbegun with two magnificent gifts, the Newell bequest which so strength-ened the actual collection and the gift of a valuable block of stock byArcher M. Huntington, which made it possible to exploit this newopportunity to the fullest extent. These were, however, only the mostimportant and first of a new series of gifts of money, books, and coins

which have virtually doubled the holdings of the Society in manyfields and have certainly strengthened it to face the future with con-fidence. In 1946, an important gift was made. The will of Arthur J.Fecht provided that his collection of ancient and modern coins wouldbe given to the Society after the death of Neoma Fecht, his survivingsister. Miss Neoma Fecht herself became one of the strong supportersof the work of the Society. Her donations in memory of her brother proved to be one of the chief sources for coin purchases. The Fecht CoinPurchase Fund, which has been continually augmented, has served tocommemorate in vital fashion the great interest in numismatics of Arthur J. Fecht. Miss Fecht, moreover, went even further when, in1948, she arranged for the immediate transfer to the vaults of theSociety of the more than 3,000 coins in the Fecht Collection. TheCouncil took cognizance of the continuing series of Miss Fecht's giftsin her brother's memory and declared Arthur J. Fecht a Benefactor.

Along with other magnificent gifts must be placed those of WilliamB. Osgood Field and Louis H. Schroeder. In 1946, W. B. Osgood Fieldpresented his extensive collection of early New England and Massachu-setts silver coins. As President Ives pointed out at the time, by virtueof that single gift the Society's holdings in that field joined the ranksof the most complete and important.9 One year later this gift was further augmented by the presentation of 141 Greek coins and 656 Roman

pieces. This gift provided much of the source material for some of themonographs published by the Society.



278 THE PEAK It is quite impossible to treat even a fraction of the gifts made to theSociety during the last dozen years in any detail because they havebeen so numerous. Many of them are described in the various curator-ial reports published in the Proceedings. Some, however, were of suchoutstanding significance that they cannot be passed over in silence.

For example, in 1946, Louis H. Schroeder made such a presentationof German coins, medals, porcelain tokens, Siamese porcelain tokens,and Arabic glass weights.10 Periodically to the time of his death headded to that original gift and in consequence was declared a Bene-factor. It was also through his assistance that the famous Strauss Col-lection of cistophoric tetradrachms and fractional currency was ac-quired in 1951. As a result of this purchase the cistophori in the mu-

seum represent what is probably the most important collection to befound anywhere.11 On the occasion of the purchase of this collection,the Council passed a resolution expressing the Society's appreciationfor Louis H. Schroeder's "friendly interest and generosity."By far the most outstanding collection to come to the Society wasthat of the Hispanic Society of America, brought together originallyby Archer M. Huntington. It consisted of 30,355 pieces when firstplaced in the custody of the American Numismatic Society but hassince been materially increased by about 7,000 pieces. The actualownership remained in the hands of the Hispanic Society but thestudy and publication of the collection was to be carried out under jointauspices.Archer M. Huntington had begun collecting coins at about the ageof nine, and in his own words, "It was perhaps ten years before I per-ceived what responsibilities I had assumed and when I started to print

a catalogue of acquired material I became aware of the fact that I hadbeen little more than a mere collector and that I was faced with theconsideration of backgrounds of history, science and art for which Iwas not sufficiently equipped at that time."12 The collection quitenaturally revolved around Hispanic culture. Within the field of numis-matics as it related to Spain, the Hispanic Society Collection touchedall phases and included the most ancient and modern pieces.

Dr. Herbert E. Ives, President of the American Numismatic Societyin 1946, had carried on the negotiations with Mr. Huntington regard-



1945-1958 279ing the deposit of these coins and the provisions for their publication.Mr. Huntington provided the funds for the salary of a curator whowould apply himself to their study and even provided funds for thepurchase of volumes necessary for this study. Dr. George C. Miles wasretained by the Society to work on the collection. Once all of these ar-

rangements had been reduced to writing by Mr. Huntington theywere sent in the form of a letter to President Ives, and all the membersof the Council signed a copy of that letter at the meeting of June 21,1946, as a token of acceptance.13During the course of 1947, the vast bulk of the pieces in this unusualcollection were physically transferred to the American NumismaticSociety, and since housing so many pieces was in itself a matter of great

concern, the steel cabinets of the Hispanic Society were also sent withthe coins.The Chief Curator, Sydney P. Noe, asked Miles to prepare a state-ment on the contents of the collection placed under his care which re-vealed the exceptional character of the coinage represented.14 Obviouslyit would be too lengthy to detail the contents of that collection but with-in it were specimens of all coins and medals in any way connectedwith Spanish history and culture. In some areas, such as the Visigothiccoinage or the period of the Umayyads, it was unrivalled. It has pro-vided the material for a number of publications which appeared as theHispanic Numismatic Series under the joint auspices of the HispanicSociety of America and the American Numismatic Society. The im-portant Visigothic collection covering the period from Leovigild toAchila II and the pieces of the Umayyads have already been publishedas well as a study of the Coins of the Spanish Muluk al- Tawa'if, and plans

have been made for the publication of the Celtiberian and early Visi-gothic sections. This work will undoubtedly continue for many years.It must be judged as comparable in significance to the tremendousstudies of the massive Newell Collection which had been acquired onlya few years previously.In that same year, 1946, there was received from George H. Clappof Pittsburgh his collection of 1,452 large United States cents covering

the years 1793-1857. At the Annual Meeting, 1947, President Ivesmade specific reference to this gift, a part of which was on display.



280 THE PEAK President Ives said, "This makes our collection without a rival in thisdepartment of numismatics. Thus within a few years the museum of theAmerican Numismatic Society has become what we have all agreed itshould be, the foremost repository of American numismatic materialin the country."15 George H. Clapp had been made a Benefactor fully

ten years earlier.The important Maurice Gautier Collection, which had been as-sembled by that French diplomat while he was stationed for extendedperiods in Syria and Bulgaria, was acquired in 1947 through the bound-less generosity of Archer M. Huntington. This renowned collectionconsisted of 2,677 coins primarily in the Roman series but included aswell important Greek and Byzantine items.16 The superlative condition

of the pieces as well as the great rarity of a number of them addedmaterially to the value of this acquisition.Charles G. Gunther, who had died in 1929, left an excellent col-lection devoted principally to the coinage of ancient Cyprus. For manyyears this treasure remained in storage in an old Venetian chest in theOttoman Bank at Nicosia. The family, including Christian Gunther,the heir, expressed their willingness to cede the numismatic collectionin its entirety to the Society provided means could be found to nego-tiate its export with the permission of the government of Cyprus. Promptnegotiations were undertaken in 1949 shortly after the offer was made,but it was impossible to secure complete control of the collection. In1950, the authorities of Cyprus agreed to turn over the portion that wasduplicated in their collections on condition that the non-numismaticparts of the collection be surrendered to the Cypriote Museum atNicosia. The other coins which were not to be found in the Cypriote

Museum collection were to be retained there as the Charles G. Gunther Memorial Collection until duplicates were secured. The Society agreedto these terms with some slight modifications, but the best part of theGunther Collection has therefore remained at Nicosia.Also in 1949, a particularly outstanding coin was presented to theSociety by Wayte Raymond, the well-known coin dealer. The famousAthenian dekadrachm with facing owl and wings outspread from the

Consul Weber Collection was presented to the Society. This singlespecimen enriched the Greek cabinet of the museum to a considerable



1945-1958 281extent because of the extreme rarity of these pieces and the great demandfor the few that are known.17 It was a gift which was to crown the manyother donations presented by Wayte Raymond as an indication of hisinterest in the work of the organization. In consequence of this gift aswell as others, Wayte Raymond was declared a Benefactor in 1950.

The increase in the collections of the Society, however, was not com-pletely the result of gifts of actual specimens. The many purchase fundswhich had been placed at the disposal of the Society made it possibleto acquire otherwise unobtainable coins and hoards. One of the mostsignificant of such acquisitions occurred in 1950 when a hoard of 254Persian sigloi found with a single half-stater of Croesus of Lydia waspurchased. This was larger than any previously recorded hoard and

in addition the individual pieces were not disfigured to any greatdegree with countermarks whereas most of the sigloi previously knownhad been mutilated in that way. It was also noticed that 117 of thesigloi in this hoard were derived from a single punch die which occurredin two states in the second of which a tiny letter, either an alpha or alambda, had been added to the center of the die.18 This hoard has sinceprovided material for a study by Sydney P. Noe.Such acquisitions were made possible through continuous supportgiven to the Society by its friends. Among these must be numberedMrs. Adra M. Newell whose constant support has been one of itsstrong assets. Mrs. Newell has continued to further the interests of theSociety in all ways possible and particularly in the matter of coinpurchases. The Council took cognizance of this aid in 1952 when itdeclared her a Benefactor.There were others who aided the Society in like fashion. The death

of David M. Bullowa, the Philadelphia coin dealer, in 1953 was a blowto American numismatists, but his will contained a bequest of over $5,000 to the Society.19 Mrs. Bullowa has followed in the footsteps of her late husband with a series of very generous donations to the li-brary. As a direct consequence, David M. Bullowa's name was in-scribed in the entrance hall of the museum as a Benefactor and Mrs.Bullowa was named a Patron and subsequently a Benefactor.

This twelve year growth in the history of the Society had, of course,its moments of sadness through the loss by death of members who had



282 THE PEAK maintained a very active relationship with the organization. Some of these moments have already been mentioned, but the death of Dr.Herbert E. Ives in November of 1953 was undoubtedly one of the mostserious blows to the Society. Dr. Ives was a distinguished opticalphysicist who held the Medal for Merit for scientific services rendered

to the country during World War II. His numismatic interests wereconcentrated in the fields of gold nobles of England, ducats of Venice,and florins of Florence. On two occasions he lectured at the museumon these coins and his three publications, one of which appeared pos-thumously, marked significant advances in the knowledge of thesepieces. In addition to his scholarly contributions, Dr. Ives possessedadministrative ability of a very high order. He was a member of the

Council for twenty years and served as its President from 1942 to 1946.He had generously donated the medals which had been awarded to hisfather for scientific accomplishments. His wisdom, generosity and goodcounsel were important factors in maintaining the Society on an even keeland giving it its first impulse toward post-war growth. On his death itwas found that Dr. Ives had made a bequest to the museum of his collec-tion of gold coins. Because of this munificent gift, which was recorded inthe Proceedings of 1955, Dr. Ives was enrolled among the Benefactors of the Society. A large portrait medallion of Dr. Herbert E. Ives had beenmade by Jeno Juszko, and it furnished the frontispiece of the Proceedingspublished in 1948. The mounted bronze portrait was donated to theSociety by Dr. Ives and today it hangs in a place of honor.In 1955, Mrs. Jean B. Cammann was named as a Benefactor of theSociety by virtue of her bequest of a large collection of Greek coins.Mrs. Cammann was the author of a monograph on the symbols appear-

ing on Corinthian staters which appeared as Numismatic Notes andMonograplis No. 55. Her splendid collection of the coins of Corinth andher colonies as well as other Greek cities filled many gaps in the Society'strays. There was a particularly noteworthy rare gold piece of Meta-pontum and a dekadrachm of Kimon from dies not represented in theSociety's collection.20 The 483 pieces in the Cammann Collection wereparticularly noted in the Proceedings of 1956.

Continuous support over a number of years by many individuals isvital to the success of any organization such as the American Numis-



1945-1958 283matic Society. The many names which have been recorded in thisbook and an even greater number of patrons of numismatic studies notmentioned have sustained the Society in all its difficult moments.Happily such individuals are found in the ranks of the Society todayjust as they have been in the past. In some instances, the benefactions

of the past have continued to bear fruit into the present. As one recentexample of a series of donations extending to the present moment, theinclusion of F.C.C. Boyd among the list of Benefactors in 1956 may bementioned. Boyd had joined the Society as a Fellow in 1914, and madeseveral important donations. Particular note was taken of a gift of seven-teenth and eighteenth century German box talers and similar pieces.21In 1950, this was joined by an extensive collection of counterfeit dies

and counterfeits made by C. Wyllys Betts.22 Finally in 1956, to crownhis many donations, F.C.C. Boyd presented a collection of 13,552items which represented approximately two-thirds of the total number of acquisitions for that year. This last gift enriched many of the special-ized collections of the Society such as the United States, Latin Ameri-can, Modern and Mediaeval, as well as Indian and Far Eastern sections.23As an example of a benefaction begun in the past but coming tofruition in the present we may point to the bequest of Robert J. Eidlitz,a former member of the Council. He had bequeathed a very substantialsum to the organization. In 1955, almost $70,000 of that bequest wasreceived, and the Robert J. Eidlitz Building Maintenance Fund waspromptly established in accordance with the terms of the bequest.24Actually, the responsibilities of the Society and its multiple activitiesgrew by leaps and bounds. Of course, there had to be a continualwatering of the plant if it was to flourish, and happily generous men

and women were not found wanting. So much so, in fact, that the fiscalyear ending on September 30, 1956, proved to be the one in which werereceived the largest cash gifts in the history of the Society. In that year,gifts totalling $361,087.46 were received from the estate of Robert J.Eidlitz, Miss Neoma Fecht, the estate of Arabella Huntington at thedirection of Archer M. Huntington, Hoyt Miller, Mrs Edward T.(Adra M.) Newell, and Charles M. Wormser.25

The flourishing condition of the Society quite naturally promptedthe members of the Council to plan for improvements rather than to





1945-1958 285concern of the Council. A Building Maintenance Reserve was establish-ed, and $5,000 provided in the 1951 budget toward future buildingrepairs. The storage room under Audubon Terrace which had beenbuilt many years earlier had suffered the ravages of time. The northretaining wall of that room had begun to crumble, with the result thatwater entered. A costly repair job was undertaken in 1951, and the

space was restored to use.While this work was being planned a check for $50,000 was re-ceived from an anonymous donor who proved to be Mr. Archer M.Huntington. There could be no formal announcement of this gift, butPresident West did comment on the general renovation that wastaking place:Inside our building in the last year or two we have added a new vault for our growing coin collections. Within the last month we have completed a large addition

to our library facilities. We have installed new lights in various parts of the building;we have recently completed a new workshop for our maintenance staff. Earlier inthe year, roller blinds were installed over the skylights to darken this room (thewestern exhibition room) for illustrated lectures. Last summer we started repairingthe badly cracked retaining wall facing the vacant lot opposite our building, anundertaking which was necessary if we were to put in usable condition the largeroom under our court. In this work the Provincial and priests in charge of Our Ladyof Esperanza Chapel promptly and willingly cooperated. The entire work shouldlong since have been completed, but unexpected difficulties connected with seepagecoming on to our property from the higher terrace of the American Academy of Arts and Letters next to us have caused long delays.29The gift of $50,000 was directly connected with the general reno-vation program. Mr. Huntington warmly supported the improvements,and this gift was to provide a part of the expenses for renovating thetwo exhibition halls and the balcony. Sherley W. Morgan, formerly thehead of the School of Architecture at Princeton University, was re-tained to plan the renovation. Vermilya-Brown and Company and

Mastercraft Associates carried out the actual construction and re-decorating. The eastern exhibition hall was completely redone and asecond floor was added to the old building by bridging the entire areaencircled by the gallery. Library facilities were greatly expanded withthe use of this additional room while the displays and the actual planof the eastern exhibition hall showed scientific care and precision.



286 THE PEAK Upon its completion in September 1953, the Council examined theremodelled eastern exhibition room and Samuel R. Milbank, a member of the Council, proposed a similar treatment for the western exhibitionroom. This was acted upon at once and negotiations to carry out thework were authorized. Archer M. Huntington, after observing theresults of the first renovation promptly volunteered his support with

a large gift. Almost $87,000 was spent upon the renovation of this newroom which was now arranged so that it could serve as a lecture hallwith a projection booth in the rear. Once again the height of the roomwas cut and a second floor was added for the use of the library. Theentire program of renovation was substantially completed in 1955. Inaddition to completing the two exhibition rooms, the mediaeval andmodern coin vault was strengthened and new cabinets installed, theworking area and office space in the vicinity being materially increasedand redecorated.

Particular attention must be paid to the new exhibitions which dis-played the history of coinage in the eastern room and the exhibit of medals and decorations in the western room. President West's com-ments on them were graphic:The old exhibition hall was rebuilt and new displays installed which illustratein an unusually effective way the development of coinage from the days of Croesusto the present. When our two exhibition rooms were first constructed, one some forty-five years ago, the other some twenty-five years ago, the best advice and talentavailable were used in planning them and their display cases. The difference in these

two rooms today is an indication of the progress made in recent years in the solutionof problems connected with illumination, with the difficulties of reflection and in theart of display. There is probably no museum room in existence today which fulfillsbetter its purpose of displaying small objects effectively and well.30The final touch in this program was the construction of an ornamen-tal iron gate and fence on Audubon Terrace to close off most of themuseums. Sherley W.Morgan was the designer. Such a gate and fence hadbeen planned by Mr. Archer M. Huntington for many years. He nowrequested the American Numismatic Society to have a design proposed

and to supervise the construction. He provided a sum sufficient for thispurpose.



1945-1958 287Thus it came about that the physical changes in the Society keptpace with the new outlook which permeated all its activities in the post-war period.The increase in the resources and activities of the organizationduring these twelve years also necessitated a greater degree of flexibility

in the constitutional structure. This was recognized by President Ives,and the first steps toward a constitutional reorganization were institutedby him in December, 1945. At that time he called the attention of theCouncil to the desirability of having the Board of Governors includethe First, Second, and Third Vice-Presidents. No action was taken then,and actually a year was to pass before this proposal was framed as anamendment to the Constitution. At the Council meeting of November

9, 1946, such an amendment was submitted for consideration.In 1940, a constitutional amendment had been enacted providing for the election of the President by the five Governors from among them-selves, and the election of the Treasurer as well as the appointment of the Secretary, a salaried office, by the full Council.31 In 1942, a further revision was made so that in addition three Vice-Presidents were to bechosen by the five governors from among the members of the Counciland the appointment of the Secretary was also placed in their hands.32According to the terms of the constitutional amendment adopted atthe Annual Meeting of 1947 the three Vice-Presidents were also to bechosen by the Governors from among themselves.The By-Laws of the Society had also undergone changes during theyears and this was particularly true with respect to the office of Presi-dent. When these By-Laws were first adopted with the new Constitu-tion of 1910, the office of President was abolished. In 1916, that office

had been restored with Edward T. Newell serving in the post. Thisnaturally necessitated the addition of a new first paragraph to the By-Laws providing for the duties of the office. Newell's death while stillin office brought the problem of a vacancy to the fore and resulted inthe adoption in 1942 of an amendment stating that in the absence of thePresident because of death or other cause, the Vice-Presidents shouldact as President pro tem in order of seniority.

In concluding his Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting of 1946, Dr. Ives added a sentence wishing his successor "no greater boon



288 THE PEAK than the continuation of the support I have been so fortunate in hav-ing."33 Damon G. Douglas immediately asked for the floor and sug-gested that the members present express, by rising, the appreciationfor the five years of splendid service rendered to the Society by Dr.Ives as its President. With a single movement the entire assemblage

joined in honoring Dr. Ives for the steady hand that he had held on thehelm during the war years as well as for the impetus towards increasedactivity which he had given immediately after the war. Dr. Ives madea short response thanking the membership by saying that it had beena privilege to serve, and that he liked to think that the Society was wellon its way to much greater things in the future.34The Council did not delay long in the choice of a successor. Arthur

S. Dewing, who had served as a Councillor and Vice-President, wasselected to carry on the program which had been started. His task wasoutlined by the state of the organization. With increased resources theSociety had the responsibility of using its facilities to the best advantage.Arthur S. Dewing, a former Professor of finance at Harvard Univer-sity who had a magnificent collection of Greek coins, was well suitedto the task. In the very month of his election, President Dewing stated apolicy which has since become virtually a tradition. He announced thatit was his purpose to have members of the staff on each of the standingcommittees as secretaries. Prior to this, there had not been officialsecretaries for these committees and the members of the museum staff had only served intermittently on the committees themselves. The newarrangement provided for closer integration of museum operationwith the work of the members. It has proven a success by experience.In February, President Dewing laid his plans before the Council. He

spoke of the work of President Newell and of its great value to theSociety. It was his intention to accept this as his pattern and his desirethat serious scholarship should be the aim of all the activities. ThePublication Committee was in his view the most important of all thestanding committees, and with that in mind he asked Dr. Ives to headthat group so that the Society might not lose the benefit of his activeparticipation in its program. He also appointed a Finance Committee

consisting of Samuel R. Milbank, A. Carson Simpson, and Louis C.West. The wisdom of his choice may be shown by the fact that the



Eastern Exhibition Room (1951)

Remodelled Eastern Exhibition Room



Remodelled Western Exhibition Room

New Library



1945-1958 289membership of this committee has remained fairly constant to thepresent.The most important aspect of President Dewing's plan was thecreation of a Committee on Reorganization which would study theactivities of the staff and their duties with a view to suggesting im-

provements. A. Carson Simpson was appointed Chairman of this com-mittee composed of Damon G. Douglas, Louis C. West, Herbert E.Ives, and Stephen H. P. Pell. There was also a Committee on the Ar-rangement of Collections which was to study the current arrangement,with a view towards improvements and cataloguing. The Councilaccepted this entire plan for future examination of the museum staff and Society activites.

The Committee on Reorganization functioned very efficiently andby April 7, 1947, the report which they had prepared had been studiedby the individual members of the Council and was on the table for consideration. It recognized that the administration of the Society fellinto four categories of staff activity. First, there were the collections of the Society under the care of the Curator; second, the library under the Librarian; third, the publications under the Editor (an office notyet provided for in the By-Laws); and last, the general administrationof the business of the Society under the Secretary as "executive officer for the Board of Governors." It was recognized that the Curator wouldbe burdened during the immediate future with the rearrangement of thecollection. In addition, the Committee on Reorganization suggestedthat the Curator should undertake the task of training and enlargingthe curatorial staff. Such a program could not be carried out at once,but it was envisioned as a continuing program extending over a number

of years.In accordance with this proposal, it was decided to standardize thetitles of the curatorial staff which then included such posts as "AssistantCurator," "Assistant to the Curator," and even "Assistants to theAssistant Curator." This welter of titles was to be reduced to a Chief Curator, Curators and Assistant Curators. The Chief Curator, of course,was Noe, and his unique talents as a student of Greek coinage were not

to be lost because of the load of administrative work. To give Noe timefor research and also to train others in Greek numismatics, it was de-



290 THE PEAK cided that a competent assistant had to be procured. Actually twoyears were to pass before Miss Margaret Thompson came to the So-ciety on September 1, 1949, as Assistant Curator of Greek Coins. MissThompson's experience as a member of the staff excavating the Agoraat Athens fitted her well for the position.

Noe, of course, had also been the Secretary for the Society sinceApril 25, 191 7.^ This had detracted from the time that he could devoteto his real specialty, Greek numismatics. As the report of the committeestated, "This, it is submitted, is obviously wrong. No one else on our staff is as competent as he in the curatorial field; ... The conclusion,therefore, is inescapable that we should release Mr. Noe from hisresponsibility as Secretary, at the earliest possible moment, so as to

permit him to direct all of his attention and energy to the Curatorship."This latter change quite naturally led to a restatement of the func-tions of the Secretary. In broad terms the report set forth the dutiesand responsibilities of the Secretary. For the position Sawyer McA.Mosser, who was then serving as Librarian and Editor, was chosen.Since the Librarian's task involved full time, it was clearly imperativethat a new Librarian would have to be appointed. The posts of Secre-tary and Editor could be held in common by one individual, and itwas suggested that they be confided to Mosser.As for the library itself, it was agreed that the Assistant Librarian,H. Alan Steeves, Jr., was to succeed to that post. In addition, a newAssistant Librarian, John J. Buckley, a graduate of Tufts College andColumbia University Library School, was appointed. He was also toassist in the routine proof reading required by the Editor. With thesechanges in the staff of the library, the Committee on Reorganization

began to apply itself to the actual working of the library. It was notedthat while the Editor was in constant contact with the Council throughthe Publication Committee, and the Curator by means of variousstanding committees, the Librarian had no direct channel of com-munication. To remedy this situation, it was recommended that theLibrary Committee should be added to the list of standing committees.It was also suggested that since the Curator and Editor were to attend

Council meetings a similar invitation should be extended to the Li-brarian.



1945-1958 291The entire report of the Committee on Reorganization was embodiedand summarized in sixteen recommendations. President Dewing gavea thorough explanation of the substance of the report which had beenpreviously circulated, and the Council accepted the suggestionsunanimously.

Changes of such an important nature in the structure and operationof the staff necessitated fundamental revision of the Constitution andBy-Laws. This also fell into the province of the Committee on Re-organization and was carried out with dispatch under A. CarsonSimpson, who on October 1 oth submitted a lengthy report. The changessuggested were so great that it was thought wiser by the Committee todraft a new Constitution rather than to amend the version of 1910.The legal talents of A. Carson Simpson are immediately evident in

the reading of this report and the proposed new constitution. After apenetrating statement of the purpose and nature of a constitution andby-laws in such circumstances, the draft itself, which was presented inNovember, contained an introduction and marginal notes showing thevariants from the 1910 version as amended. Everything of a more per-manent nature was enshrined in the new Constitution, and those itemsof a general nature calling for more frequent change were relegated tothe By-Laws. The results of the earlier recommendations about the staff

were also included in the new draft. Since the By-Laws were necessarilydependent in content on the adoption of the new Constitution, it wasdecided to delay drafting them until some action had been taken.The most important change introduced by the new draft constitutionwas the abolition of the Board of Governors. The Board of Governorshad long since lost its original function as the executive body of theSociety. It met only once a year for a few minutes to carry out itselectoral responsibilities, and for the remainder of the time its members

acted by virtue of their positions as officers or members of the Council.In the future the Council was specifically described as having generalmanagement of the affairs of the Society.A second important change was made in the procedure adopted for amending the By-Laws. According to the By-Laws of 191 o, such amend-ments could be made only at a regular meeting and then only by atwo-third vote of those present. Though this provision also required that19*



292 THE PEAK written notification be given to all members in writing at a previousmeeting, in actual fact a constitutional provision restricted the fran-chise to Fellows of the Society. During the years from 1910 to 1947,when many of the permanent and fundamental rules of the Societywere embodied in the By-Laws, such a broad base for change seemed

advisable. Under the new draft constitution, in which only the rulessubject to regular alteration were in the By-Laws, it seemed wiser tosimplify the process of amendment by granting such power to theCouncil by itself with the one restriction that they could not changethe dues without the consent of two-thirds of the Fellows and HonoraryFellows present at a meeting.If a vote by the entire membership could not be taken at the Annual

Meeting which was scheduled to take place in January 1947, therewould have been a delay of two years before the Constitution could beaccepted. Fortunately that was not the case, and on January 10, 1948,the new Constitution and a proposed amendment to the By-Laws waspresented for a vote of the Fellows. Dr. Ives explained the significanceof the various changes to the members. There was a brief discussion inwhich some members of the Society participated, and the new Con-stitution was accepted.Exactly one year elapsed between the adoption of the new Con-stitution and the inclusion of the first amendment. During that year Dr. Ives had noted that even though the preliminary study of the Com-mittee on Reorganization dealing with staff activities had specificallymentioned the collection of paper money as one of the functions of theSociety, it was not included in the Constitution. At the January 1949meeting he therefore proposed amending Article II, Section 2, to

include the maintenance of a collection of paper money as one of thepurposes of the organization.36Stephen H. P. Pell had taken up the reigns of leadership in the verydifficult days immediately following the death of Edward T. Newell.Under the provisions of the new Constitution it was proposed that heshould be accorded the title of Honorary President for life. By a unani-mous vote of the members present at the Annual Meeting of 1949

that was done, and in a few words Pell expressed his pleasure at thehonor which was conferred upon him.37 Unfortunately, the enjoyment



1945-1958 293of that honor was not to be very long, for he died the following year.The Council paid tribute to his memory at their September meeting by astanding moment of silence and passed a commemorative resolution whichwas spread upon the minutes and communicated to Stephen Pell's family.It recalled the many services which he had given to the Society and his

interest in numismatics and American history. He had served hiscountry with distinction in war, and shown a deep concern not onlyfor the past but also contemporary development. As the Council noted,"By tradition and practice he was truly a humanist."Arthur S. Dewing served as President for two years between 1947 and1949 after which he gave up all offices in the Society but continued towork actively on behalf of the institution as a member of the Council.

His successor in the Presidency was Louis C. West. President Westhad had experience in archaeology in Egypt, and in business and gov-ernment in Cleveland. He was associated with Princeton Universityas a Lecturer in Classics and Curator of the Coins and Medals at thePrinceton University Library.38In the latter part of 1949, a substantial change was made in the pro-cedure for the nomination of officers. According to the By-Laws as theythen stood the Council was responsible for nominating officers for vacancies created as they occurred. In November, 1949, it was suggestedthat a Nominating Committee should be one of the standing committeesof the Council along with the Executive Committee, the Finance Com-mittee and the Auditing Committee. This new committee was to con-sist of three councillors, including such past Presidents as might bemembers of the Council and available for the responsibilty. If morethan three former Presidents were present on the Council, then the

last three who had held that office were to serve. The nominations of the new committee were to be presented annually to the Council at thefirst meeting of that body after the Annual Meeting of the Society.This procedure was promptly adopted as simplifying the entire processof nomination, and President West appointed Stephen Pell, Dr. Her-bert Ives, and Arthur S. Dewing, the last three to hold the office of President, to the Committee.39

Various other amendments in the By-Laws and Constitution weremade from time to time during the period following 1952, but none



294 â„¢E PEAK of them altered the fundamental structure of the Society nor themanner in which the various activities were carried out. All thesechanges were published in the Proceedings at the time that they werepassed either by the Council or by the Fellows.In October 1952, it had become evident that the burden on the Presi-

dent was very heavy because of the amount of supervision of detailwhich was required of him. As a result, a resolution was framed em-bodying changes in the Constitution and By-Laws to remedy this con-dition. The suggestion was made that the creation of the post of Exe-cutive Director to deal with such matters of a routine or purely detailednature might eliminate the difficulty. The Council accepted this re-commendation and created the new post by means of an amendment

to the By-Laws which was announced to the members at the AnnualMeeting on January 16, 1954. No appointment was made to the newpost for some time, and it was only on February 11, 1955, that PresidentWest announced that Sawyer McA. Mosser, the Secretary, had beenchosen to fill the new position.The fact that the staff of the institution was growing has beenmentioned several times during this chapter. All these additions weremade in accordance with the increase in the activities of the organi-zation. For a short period between July, 1947, and December, 1949, theSociety was very fortunate in securing the services of Yii-ch'uan Wangas Curator of Far Eastern Coins; his Early Chinese Coinage, based uponthe Society's Collection, appeared in 1951 in the Numismatic Notes andMonographs series. By 1949, the political situation in the Far East hadchanged considerably, and Wang was worried about the fate of thefamily that he had left behind. The Communists had seized control of

the entire mainland of China, and any communication with his familywas difficult. Under these conditions he decided to return to his home-land.As has been mentioned, when Mosser was appointed as Secretary of the Society it became necessary for him to resign his post as Librarian,and he was succeeded by H. Alan Steeves, Jr. The latter did not holdthat post for long. Barely one year after his appointment he found it

advisable to resign so that he might join his father in a business venture.The Society was very fortunate in securing the services of an eminently



1945-1958 2Q5qualified librarian the very next month. Richard P. Breaden, who hadtaken his undergraduate work at Brown University and pursued gradu-ate studies at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, andat the University of Wisconsin, Catholic University, and the Univer-sity of Michigan, was asked to join the staff. Breaden's library experi-

ence was very extensive for he had been connected in an official capa-city with the Gennadeion in Athens as well as the New York PublicLibrary. In addition he had been the Acting Keeper of Early PrintedBooks at the Morgan Library. These extensive experiences in librarywork added to a remarkable knowledge of many languages fitted himfor the task of handling the Society's library at the time that the mostimportant steps were to be taken for its expansion. Under Breaden's

guidance, cataloguing was more complete than ever before and pur-chases were greatly increased. A truly remarkable expansion wasundertaken which, in later years, was to include not only the works of a specialized nature but also necessary books in allied fields. Thelibrary became a most workable instrument for scholarly researchand gained an enviable reputation as possibly the finest numismaticlibrary in the world. Scholars resorted to it in increasing numbers andthe burden of servicing the large collection was great.For a few years, Breaden was able to carry on with a minimum of aid,but the time arrived when an assistant of similar capability had to befound. In October of 1952, Geoffrey H. North, who had studied atMcGill and Columbia Universities and had been connected with theBrooklyn Public Library, was prevailed upon to join the staff of theSociety as Assistant Librarian. Here again the Society was very for-tunate and under his hand the cataloguing of the books and the exten-

sive periodical and offprint files of the Society was successfully carriedout. The introduction of graduate instruction into the program of activities at the Society at a later date naturally increased the pressureon the library, but this test was successfully met.The first steps toward increasing the curatorial staff were actuallytaken some time before the Committee on Reorganization presentedits report. President Ives was cognizant of the need for expansion and

seized the opportunity immediately after the war to carry out the firststeps of the program. In 1946, Richard D. Kenney, an experienced



206 THE PEAK numismatist, was engaged as Curator of Medals. For seven years hecontinued in that capacity and aided in cataloguing and caring for thevery extensive collection of medals and European coins. In 1953, heresigned to take a post in the business world, and this loss was sorelyfelt. Fortunately, Henry Grunthal, who had studied at Berlin, Paris

and Jena, was then in New York. He had studied numismatics withProf. Regling in Berlin and served for one year as Assistant Curator toGeheimrat Pick in the cabinet at Gotha before entering the coin tradein Germany in his father's concern. Grunthal was obviously wellsuited for the task, and in June of 1953 he joined the staff as Assistantto the Chief Curator.It was in that same year that Dr. Howard L. Adelson was asked to be-

come a member of the staff. He had studied at Princeton and taughtthere until he was recalled to military service for the Korean conflict.Upon his release from active duty he was asked to join the editorialstaff, and arrangements were later made to permit him to continueteaching at the City College of New York while working on the variouspublications of the Society.A very significant change in personnel occurred on the curatorialstaff in the same year. In the year 1953 Sydney P. Noe, the Chief Curator, had been granted a Fulbright Award for nine months' studyabroad. While Noe was in Greece it was decided that Dr. George C.Miles should serve as Acting Chief Curator. Noe's services to the So-ciety had been extensive and the Council took the occasion to pass aresolution in his honor. He had held the posts of Librarian, Editor,Secretary and Chief Curator. In each of these positions he had madea major contribution. The system of cataloguing the books in the

library had been worked out by him. In such a specialized branch of scholarship, of course, this presented novel problems. In addition, hehad written extensively in many fields of numismatics, but perhapshe was best known as an authority on Greek coinage. Many of hispublications on various aspects of that subject have taken their placeas standard works. It was decided that Sydney P. Noe should be askedto continue his efforts on behalf of numismatics in the capacity of

Chief Curator Emeritus and that Dr. Miles should be named as Chief Curator.



1945-1958 297This display of energy which marked the last dozen years of theSociety's history could not but necessitate an increase in the staff con-cerned with the general conduct of the Society's affairs. The first steptaken towards that end was the appointment of Raymond E. Main asAssistant Secretary in 1953. For many years, Main had directly super-

vised those business aspects of the Society which were not related to thetechnical workings of the museum. This new post granted recognitionfor the excellent fashion in which the general affairs of the organizationhad been handled.This present history is only the most recent in the long series of publications issued by the Society during its one hundred years of life.During the war years, however, there had been a general lag in the

number of volumes issued because of the exigencies of the nationaleffort. In 1945, President Ives realized that a surplus had accrued in thefunds available for that purpose, and consequently he planned a moreextensive campaign of publications than ever before. Under Prof.Bellinger's editorship the high quality of the publications issued by theSociety was maintained.40As of the time that Prof. Bellinger became Editor there were twoseries of publications that were still being issued. In 1945, it was decidedthat a new publication should be started. This new series of volumeswas to be more in the nature of a journal appearing occasionally anddevoted in large part to research regarding various phases of thematerial in the Society's cabinets. President Ives took the opportunityto present this new series in his Presidential address of 1946. On thatoccasion he said, "there has existed for some time a need for a mediumto present more adequately than in our annual listing of items, a view

of the acquisitions to our collections. We have occasionally printed aplate in our transactions illustrating some of the more outstanding coinsadded, but with the accelerating rate of growth of the collections this isnot enough. Moreover many of these coins deserve some comment,although not enough for separate monographs. With this in mind, weare launching a new annual publication to be called 'Museum Notes'which will carry a more representative selection of illustrations of new

acquisitions, notes upon those of particular importance, as well asshort articles, some supplementary to existing monographs, and some



298 THE PEAK of which are not of monograph length. We hope that this publicationâ€”of which the 1945 volume should be in your hands before this issueof the 'Proceedings'â€”will prove informative and valuable to themembers; and that through it, their acquaintance with the Society'streasures may be increased."41

In May of 1947, before the second volume of Museum Notes had comefrom the printer, Dr. Ives, as Chairman of the Publication Committee,presented to the Council a memorandum embodying the recommen-dations of that Committee in regard to a new publication Numis-matic Literature. The general idea had been advanced and sponsored byA. Carson Simpson at an earlier meeting of the Council. DuringJanuary, 1947, Prof. Bellinger had indicated that it was no longer

possible for him to carry on the position of Editor. The many callsupon his time from various sources proved to be too much, and so itwas that the carrying out of the plan for this new publication was leftto Dr. Herbert E. Ives and the new Editor, Sawyer Me A. Mosser. AsDr. Ives conceived of the new publication, it was to contain a list of current books, pamphlets and articles related to numismatic studieswith an abstract of each. In addition, there was to be an index of thereviews of numismatic publications, a list of auction and fixed pricecatalogues. Of necessity, the first number had to be of an introductorynature, and it was devoted to a list of the publications of the war period.In discussing the birth of this new periodical devoted to biblio-graphical study some few facts should be mentioned to indicate that theidea for it did not develop in a vacuum. From 1880 to 1939 a total of twenty-six volumes of the Numismatisches Literatur-Blatt had been issuedin Europe. This publication had the same purpose as the newer one,

but it was not as inclusive in its coverage. In 1939, however, even thatrelatively incomplete bibliographical tool ended its career. Throughoutthe war there was no coverage of the publications in the field of numis-matics and, of course, there was no exchange of books and articlesbetween the warring powers. After the conflict, it was quite apparentthat the resumption of this bibliographical publication was very un-likely. Under those conditions, it seemed wisest to the Publication

Committee under Dr. Ives to undertake to replace it by a new journaldevoted to the same purpose. When information regarding the new



1945-1958 299project was communicated to the various scholars and societies inEurope there was an immediate favorable reaction. Men of standing innumismatic studies such as C. H. V. Sutherland wrote to congratulatethe Society "on a venture which is of the very utmost value and im-portance." He spoke of the great need for such a journal and for

the excellent lines along which the Publication Committee hadplanned it.42The European scholars were also most helpful in volunteering aid insecuring abstracts and assuring a stream of bibliographical notices for the journal. It was planned to carry on this project with the help of the different numismatic societies and associations. Nils Rasmusson of the Statens Historiska Museum och Kungl. Myntkabinett in Stock-

holm commented on the need for broadening this basis for securing thebest results. In his letter Rasmusson welcomed the project and assuredthe American Numismatic Society of all assistance, but he also said,"It is, however, a problem if your project can practically be carriedthrough only with the help of the different Numismatic Societies andAssociations: In most of the cases these have probably no possibilitiesto provide you with the necessary materials for the purpose of your periodical. In reality the more scientific interests of these Societies havealways been managed by the attendants of the public museums andNumismatic collections of the various countries. This is quite naturalbecause it is part of the duty of these scholars to follow the publicationsand actual periodicals etc., while I wonder, whether there is someinterest for this taste among members of most of the Societies who haveno regular access to scientific libraries etc. etc."43 Since that timeRasmusson's prediction has been eminently borne out. The most im-

portant foreign contributors to Numismatic Literature have been thosescholars who have been connected with public collections.Another important innovation began with the publication of Numis-matic Literature. For some years, it will be remembered, the size of thepublications issued under the auspices of the Society had been 43/8 x 6x/2inches. In the case of Numismatic Literature the original format wasincreased so that the size of the page was roughly 6x9 inches. The new

size appeared to have many advantages, so it was decided that itshould be adopted for all of the publications of the organization.



3<DO THE PEAK Numismatic Notes and Monographs No. no, The Oak Tree Coinage of Massachusetts by Sydney P. Noe, was the first of that series in which thelarger format was used. With the larger page there was a greater areaon each plate which made for far more economical illustration of thematerial which did not fit well in the smaller size.44

The year 1947, in which the first issue of Numismatic Literature ap-peared, proved to be one of the most successful from the standpoint of the publications. The first issue of this new periodical, as has been said,was devoted to the publications which had appeared during the war.Of course, it was not completely exhaustive and two years later a sup-plementary list was published covering exactly the same period. ByJanuary of 1948 a regular issue of Numismatic Literature devoted to thepublications issued in 1946 was brought from the press. In 1947 as well,

there were two monographs issued by the Society in the series calledNumismatic Notes and Monographs as well as the second volume of thejournal called Museum Notes. In addition, there was a full-sized volumeentitled The United States Cents of the Years 1795, 1796, 1797 and 1800 byGeorge H. Clapp and Howard R. Newcomb, which was published.The following year inaugurated still another series of publications,but this time issued under the joint auspices of the Hispanic Society of America and the American Numismatic Society. With the loan of the

collection of the Hispanic Society of America to the Numismatic So-ciety for publication, discussions were held between Dr. Ives as Chair-man of the Publication Committee and Archer M. Huntington asPresident of the Hispanic Society, with regard to the new series. Theyagreed at this conference on the details concerning the new publicationwhich was to be known as the Hispanic Numismatic Series. The financialresponsibilities of each organization were delineated, and the generalform of the title page was determined. This agreement was ratified by

the Council at its meeting on March 12, 1948.The new Hispanic Numismatic Series had an assured future in 1948because the financial burden for its production was shared with an-other group. At the end of 1948 this could not be said of the other publications issued under the auspices of the Society. The PublicationCommittee described the situation in its report to the Council onDecember 10, 1948.



1945-1958 301A temporary solution was found in removing the Editor's salary fromthe list of publication expenses and charging it against the operatingfund, while Museum Notes was specifically declared to be an occasionalpublication and not an annual one. In addition, it now became neces-sary to appropriate money specifically for publications. The actual

costs of issuing a monograph had risen sharply and despite variousattempts at economy the Publication Fund was simply not largeenough to sustain the various costs. Even the attempt to use a photo-offset process for issuing Numismatic Literature was unsuccessful.The year 1950 proved to be a landmark in the history of the pub-lications issued under the Society's auspices. Four numbers of Numis-matic Literature and four new monographs headed the list of new vol-

umes. In addition the first of the works in the Hispanic NumismaticSeries also appeared as well as a volume of Museum Notes. The first indexto the issues of Numismatic Literature was printed and distributed. Stillother volumes were in the press at the end of the year.45 One of thesewas The Alexander Coinage of Sicyon prepared by Sydney P. Noe from thenotes of Edward T. Newell which became the sixth volume in theseries called Numismatic Studies. The record of 1950, however, was sur-passed two years later when the second volume of the Hispanic Numis-matic Series and two more books of the Numismatic Studies were publishedas well as three new monographs and the fifth volume of Museum Notesand the usual four numbers and index of Numismatic Literature.*6 Thusdespite the rising costs and the difficulties faced by the PublicationCommittee, the stream of books of great importance for numismaticscholarship has continued to flow from the Society to the present mo-ment.

By far the innovation which has had the greatest effect upon numis-matic studies in this country and which promises to have an even greater effect in the future has been the entry of the Society into the academ-ic world as an institution providing instruction for graduate studentsin the humanities. The first steps in this process were taken by Presi-dent Ives even before World War II had come to an end. Throughoutthe lean years of the war, President Ives had stressed the fine opportu-

nities which the museum had to offer to students, particularly thosein the classical field, who were debarred from the centers of learning



302 THE PEAK in Europe. During 1943, the Council took specific steps to call this onceagain to the attention of the various leaders in American universities.A circular was printed which told of the collections which the Societypossessed as well as of its library and its work in aiding scientificscholarship. This circular was widely distributed throughout the coun-

try to the leading institutions. It urged that students, especially gradu-ate students having scholarships or fellowships, avail themselves of thisunique opportunity for research in a fascinating field of study. At thetime, of course, there was little hope for an overwhelming response be-cause of the virtually complete preoccupation with the war effort.47 Thedesire to help young scholars and the belief in the effectiveness of theSociety as an academic institution were not permitted to languish by

default. In 1944, the Society made a step in the direction of expressingits aims in concrete fashion. The Edward T. Newell Fellowship worth $300was established and granted to a graduate student from Yale who spentthe summer working on a listing of the Newell Collection.48 Even moreambitious proposals were mentioned involving university researchprofessorships and the like, but to carry these plans to fruition requiredadditions to the endowment.The scholarship established by the Society itself was considered apermanent feature of the activities of the organization after two yearsof operation with two different recipients. In addition, in 1945, a secondscholarship was established by the American Numismatic Association.This latter one carried the same stipend as the former, but it was to begiven for work on the coinage of the Americas. At the same time theincrease in the financial resources of the Society which followed thewar made it possible for the organization itself to expand this program.

One method was to employ graduate students for the summer to work in the vaults. This was undertaken, and in 1945 in addition to theNewell Fellowship there was a graduate student employed for work with the coins, which would benefit the Society directly as well as thestudent. With the passing years this practice gained in importance anda succession of young students came to the museum to help in bringingthe photofile of illustrations from auction catalogues up to date or to

aid in the various curatorial branches. In 1947, three students wereengaged in those capacities. One of these graduate students continued



1945-1958 3Â°3during the winter months, but on a part-time basis. In 1950, two morestudents replaced those of the preceding summer.Further steps were taken to encourage young scholars to utilizenumismatics in their researches. In 1951, the Council decided to offer a prize of $ 1 oo for the best paper based in a large degree on numis-

matic evidence. The contest was open to undergraduate as well asgraduate students, and the winner of the prize was Cornelius C. Ver-meule, III, who was later to teach at Michigan and Bryn Mawr andfinally to take a post as Curator of the Classical Collection of theBoston Museum of Fine Arts and become a member of the Councilof the Society.In that same year, four young people were brought to the museum

during the summer to continue the educational program which hadbeen started six years before under the aegis of President Ives. Thesefour students, Miss Brooks Emmons, Oleg Grabar, Roger Hornsby,and Howard L. Adelson were given some instruction by the staff atthe same time that they were employed in various departments. Amongthem the drive for a more intensive program of teaching on the part of the Society came to the fore. At the close of the summer, the concept of a type of seminar was born of conversations with one of the graduatestudents. Planning for this Seminar continued through the followingwinter and reading lists were prepared. In mid-September the entireprogram was presented to the Council. It was recognized that theNewell Fellowship had not been completely adequate for the purposebecause the recipients had been increasingly involved with the purelyroutine tasks of the museum, which did little to stimulate recognitionof the value of numismatics as a field of humanistic research. If numis-

matics was to achieve its rightful place among the ancillary sciencesof the humanities and social sciences, the Society would have to dem-onstrate to an increasing number of graduate students that it had anindispensable contribution to make to their researches. To accomplishthis aim, it was proposed that the Society offer ten fellowships carryinga stipend of $500 to graduate students in Classics, Oriental Languages,History, Economics, Art, and Archaeology. These students were to

spend ten weeks during the summer at the museum studying andwriting in a formal program. For the first two weeks of the program the



304 THE PEAK students were to devote themselves to background reading and becom-ing familiar with the techniques and methods of the subject. After thatthere were to be meetings at which some visiting scholars or membersof the staff would deliver a paper showing how numismatics had beenused in solving a particular problem. For each of these conferences,

there was to be a separate reading list which would familiarize thestudent with the nature of the problem before he heard the paper read.After each paper, there was to be a discussion among all participants inthe meeting. Lastly, it was expected that every student would prepareand submit a paper utilizing numismatics in research in something thatfell within his own field of specialization. These student papers were tobe delivered and to serve as the subjects of individual seminar meetings

during the last two weeks of the summer.A notice of this new fellowship series was circulated to the variousgraduate colleges of this country and Canada, and the applicationsfrom the students soon began to flow to the Society. When they had allbeen received and examined it was found that more than ten studentshad the unusual qualifications which merited entrance into this pro-gram. The Council therefore increased the number of awards, andthirteen students were accepted in 1952 for the first year of the Summer Seminar in Numismatics.Of course there were difficulties in this first effort, but the visitorswho viewed the Seminar and those who took part in it were uniformlyimpressed by its value and the interest which it stimulated. As a result,the Council determined to repeat the program for the following year.49In every year since then the program has been continued with somechanges in the speakers and in the visiting scholars. Interest in the

Seminar grew with the passing years, and its effectiveness might bejudged not only from the response of the students who have oftenpublished the results of their researches in various scholarly journalsbut have continued with topics studied at the Seminar for doctoraldissertations. To list these publications and dissertations which owetheir origin to the Summer Seminar in Numismatics would be a verycongenial task, but the list has already grown so long during the six

years of the program that it is impossible to do so. A further reflectionof the success of the program may be found in the very laudatory com-



The Reilly Roomâ€”used for Meetings of the Council

Library Reading Room



* -t.The Huntington Plaque

Archer M. Huntington, President1903-1909Portrait of Louis C.West, President 1949-,by DeWitt M. Lockwood



1945-1958 '305ments of the visiting scholars who took part in various sessions of theSeminar or who have had occasion to witness its results.50 The factthat capable young scholars were now provided with an opportunityto become acquainted with numismatics as a significant area of classicaland mediaeval scholarship was quickly recognized by the Council and

the program was made a permanent part of the future enterprises of theSociety.In view of this success new ideas were sought which would permitthe Society to utilize its resources to even greater effect among thecoming generation of scholars. The proposal was made and acceptedin 1957 that the Society sponsor a number of fellowships carrying astipend of $2,500 each to be granted to past members of the Summer

Seminars who are completing their doctoral dissertations in subjectsin which numismatics provides a significant part of the evidence. Nom-inations for these grants are to be made by the deans of graduateschools including those of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, NewYork University, University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr College, andthe University of Michigan. Applications from students from univer-sities other than those just listed, however, are also to be considered,but the requirement that the candidate must attend the Summer Seminar in advance of the year for which the fellowship would be grantedis to be maintained. In addition, the dissertation, when completed, is tobe submitted to the Society for possible publication in whole or in part.This new addition to the program of graduate instruction shouldstimulate even greater interest among young scholars.In retrospect, the last dozen years of the history of the AmericanNumismatic Society have marked the adult vigorous manhood of an

organization which has outgrown its humble origins to take its placeamong the learned institutions of the country. Even the great losseswhich were sustained through the death of firm and generous suppor-ters did not break the thread of progress. On December n, 1955, thedeath of Archer Milton Huntington, who had done more to enhancethe Society than any other man, was sorely felt. As the Council me-morialized on the occasion of his death, Archer M. Huntington's "Life

career might be epitomized as one of'adventures in giving,' for indeedthe last fifty years of his life were devoted to the giving away of the



306 THE PEAK resources of his mind and experience as well as of his great means."51For fifty years he had served as a member of the Council and for fiveyears between 1905 and 1910 had been President of the Society. Morethan anyone else he was responsible for the magnificent home of theSociety and for its ability to carry on its various enterprises. Not onlyin the realm of material giving had he taken an active role but also in the

constant counsel which he gave to his successors. His interest in theSociety did not slacken with the passing years, and he was mournedby all. Barely two years before Mrs. Anna Hyatt Huntington had madea magnificent plaque of her husband which illustrated many of thefeatures of his character as a student of the arts. This large medallionwas given to the Society and hung in the renovated western exhibitionhall where it remains as a memorial to the man who joined a smalllocal numismatic society in 1899 and with his vision and force as well

as his material resources built it into a great institution. This, however,was insufficient to show the appreciation of the Society toward the manwho had so often anonymously made things possible. From a part of theendowment previously given by Archer M. Huntington a special fundwith a capital of $1,000,000 was set up to perpetuate his memory, to beknown as the Archer M. Huntington Fund. The income from this fundwas to be used for general operating purposes. This marked the firsttime that the Society had received permission to attach Mr. Huntington'sname to part of the endowment which he had so generously given.Mr. Huntington's ideals and visions live on in the Society becausehe was so much a part of it for half of its existence. His connectionwith its activities is perhaps expressed best in part of a letter which hewrote barely five years before his death:A moment ago I spoke of reward and of an indifference to it which has grown upin my mind based on experiences into which I need enter no further. But to say thatI do not wish a reward from the Numismatic Society for what I have been able todo in making the Society effective is not quite true. The reward I ask is the serious

interest and achievements of the members.If my efforts in these lines meet with failure, then my beliefs and efforts in other lines are failures and against any such criminal waste I must needs protest, evenagainst myself. If my effort to facilitate work does not accomplish the desired resultthen I have done but little in the field.



1945-1958 3Â°7It is along such lines that I have worked for my country in paths aside in somemeasure from the obvious. And now that I draw near in a few days to the entranceinto my eightieth year, it is with such convictions that I hope I have lived in grati-tude to the man who created my fortune, a man than whom I have known no oneof greater heart and mind. He said to me: 'Do what you like with your money butdo it well.' Perhaps that is why I built your building and you have my collection.62

Mr. Huntington lived to see some of the fruits of his labors, but thefoundations which he laid are strong enough to permit much more con-structive effort. The Society which he aided and led cherishes his mem-ory and is determined to fulfill the promise.In the very same year that Archer M. Huntington died, Mrs. AgnesBaldwin Brett, a former Curator and one whose life was intimately asso-ciated with the history of the organization since 1908 also passed away.The Annual Meeting of 1956 at which the resolutions passed in honor

of Mr. Huntington and Mrs. Brett were read was indeed a sad one. For many years they had served the Society faithfully and aided in itsgrowth. Their loss would be deeply felt.Now it was necessary that the pledge made by the Council in itsmemorial to Archer M. Huntington that the members of the Societywould be faithful to the trust that was left with them be carried out.The entire history of the organization brought a feeling of confidencethat it would be done. From a small group of men who had met in1858 to form a new Society devoted to numismatics, a great museumand institution of scholarship and learning renowned throughout theworld had developed. There had been moments of doubt such as theperiod during the Civil War when the very life of the newborn societywas threatened. Interest seemed to be at the lowest point ever and allmeetings were cancelled, but a new beginning was made after the closeof hostilities. Never again did the Society seem so near extinction, thoughit went through a succession of crises and difficulties. Its growth as aninstitution of learning must be dated from the Presidency of Charles E.

Anthon, who stimulated a number of his colleagues in the academicworld and sponsored so many of the early attempts at placing theorganization on a firm basis. The first struggles concerning meetingrooms, of course, proved to be indicative of the fate of the Society for half of its existence. Try as they might, the members and Council were20*



308 THE PEAK unable to work the miracle of securing permanent quarters. As a result,for over half of its existence, the organization was small and its collec-tions of coins, medals, and library materials could not be ranked amongthe great ones of the world. In 1905, however, all this changed as theleadership of Archer M. Huntington achieved in a relatively short

time all that had been vainly attempted before by a succession of mosttalented men. Shortly after Archer M. Huntington made the physicalsituation of the Society better, fortune brought Edward T. Newell toits aid to improve the collection and the scholarly works emanating fromthe institution. Under these two men the home of the Society was ex-panded and ambitious programs were instituted. This was the secondperiod to leave an indelible mark on the history of the organization.

The crowning effort, which served as a capstone to the past, was theperiod after the close of World War II. The means and tradition toaccomplish great things were now available, and under the leadershipof a succession of capable men the Society expanded its field of interestand labor. The fruits of all that had preceded it were reaped duringthe last dozen years when the Society stood as a recognized institutionof learning, full of vigor, and with an expectant eye toward the future.



NOTESNotes to The Origins1 For all that follows on the general cultural revival and the part of New York in parti-cular see, Merle Curti, The Growth of American Thought (New York and London, 1943), pp.344-367; Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought. An Interpretation of American Literature From the Beginnings to 1920 (New York, 1930), Vol. II (The Romantic Revo-lution in America); Van Wyck Brooks, The Flowering of New England 1815-1865 (New York,1936); The World of Washington Irving (Cleveland and New York, 1944); and Arthur CharlesCole, The Irrepressible Conflict 1850-1865 (New York, 1934), pp. 205-242, which is Vol. VII in

ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger and Dixon Ryan Fox, A History of American Life.2 Edward Cogan in a letter to the editor printed in the American Journal of Numismatics,March 1867, pp. 68-87, suggests the figure 300 as the upper limit for the number of collectorsat that time.3 This story first appears in a letter from Edward Cogan to the editor printed in the Ameri-can Journal of Numismatics, March 1887, pp. 86-87. It was retold in another letter from WilliamEwing Dubois, Director of the Philadelphia Mint, printed in the American Journal of Numis-matics, April 1871, p. 84, and various notices of Mickley's death mention it. See Proceedings(March 19, 1878), pp. 3-4, and especially the lengthy obituary published in the AmericanJournal of Numismatics, April 1878, pp. 103-105 for accurate and detailed accounts of the

interesting life of this early collector. Also see Frederick M. Bird, "Recollections of Mr. Mickley,''Proceedings (March 16, 1886), pp. 16-18.4 Catalogue of the Numismatic Collection formed by Joseph J. Mickley, Esq., of Philadelphia. Nowthe property of W. Elliot Woodward, of Roxbury, Mass.; To be sold by auction by Messrs. Leavitt,Strebeigh & Co. (Roxbury, 1867), p. Ill, lot 1975. According to the annotated or priced copyof that catalogue the coin was bought by C. Wyllys Betts for $32.00 and was far from themost expensive cent in that sale, for one piece of 1793 brought $110. Lot 1973, the cent of 1798, which was the first coin in the Mickley Collection, sold for $3.50.6 Cogan himself gives this description of his entry into the coin trade in a letter to theeditor printed in the American Journal of Numismatics, March 1867, pp. 86-87. See also the309



310 NOTES to The Origins"Historiographer's Report" in the Proceedings, (March 17, 1885), pp. 13-14. In the minutes of May 20, 1884, the death of Edward Cogan was appropriately memorialized. An obituarynotice was published in the American Journal of Numismatics, July 1884, p. 23, and an unsignedarticle on Edward Cogan entitled "The Father of the Coin Trade in America," appeared inThe Numismatist, XXIX, No. 6 (June 1916), pp. 267-268.6 Neil Carothers, Fractional Money. A History of the Small Coins and Fractional Paper Currencyof the United States (New York, 1940), pp. 105-137. Cf. A. Barton Hepburn, A History of Cur-rency in the United States With a Brief Description of the Currency Systems of All Commercial Nations

(New York, 1915), pp. 62-66.7 These are, of course, the U.S. Large copper cents and half-cents with a stylized head of Liberty on the obverse and a wreath or chain of links encircling the words "ONE CENT"or "HALF CENT" on the reverse. There are several varieties of the representation of Libertyduring the period 1793-1857, but the main features of the type did not change. The principalalteration in the obverse was introduced in 1808. See Wayte Raymond, The Standard Catalogueof United States Coins from 1652 to the Present Day. (14th ed.: New York, 1950), pp. 28-44; R. S.Yeoman, Lee F. Hewitt and Charles E. Green, Handbook of United States Coins (13th ed.:Racine, Wisconsin, 1955), pp. 18-26; and R. S. Yeoman, A Guide Book of United States Coins(9th ed.: Racine, Wisconsin, 1955), pp. 59-78.8 W. Raymond, op. cit., p. 45; R.S. Yeoman, L. F. Hewitt and C. E. Green, op. cit., p. 27;

R.S. Yeoman, op. cit., p. 79.9 For a fuller discussion of the laws of 1857 and 1859 see Carothers, Fractional Money, pp.138-150; Hepburn, A History of Currency in the United States, pp. 66-70.10 Edward Cogan in his letters to the editor of the American Journal of Numismatics, March,1867, pp. 86-87 and April, 1867, pp. 95-96, argues very strongly for the belief that "the changeof the cent from copper to nickel in the years 1856 and 1857 was one of the principal causesfor the demand for coins. . . because from that time the demand was continually on the in-crease up to the latter part of 1858."11 Cf. Richard D. Kenney, "The Issues of Augustus B. Sage," The Coin Collectors Journal,XV, No. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1948), pp. 99-105; XVI, No. 2 (March-April 1949), pp. 30-31. Amongthe many issues of Augustus B. Sage, including his store cards, is to be found a series of nine

portrait medals of Americans who were intimately associated with numismatics includingCharles I. Bushnell, Henry Bogert, Jeremiah Colburn, James R. Chilton, Winslow Lewis,Frank Jaudon, William H. Chesley, Horatio N. Rust, and Robert J. Dodge.12 Edward Groh, "A Rare Medal," Proceedings, (March 18, 1901), pp. 69-70, tells the storyof this medal. The minutes of the meeting of June 9, 1864, relate Sage's gift of the medal.13 Charles I. Bushnell, who lived from 1826 to 1883, is known chiefly for his work, AnArrangement of Tradesmen's Cards, Political Tokens, also, Election Medals, Medalets, &c. Currentin the United States of America for the Last Sixty Years, Described from the Originals, Chiefly in theCollection of the Author. With Engravings. (New York, 1858). His collection was sold in 1882, andthe catalogue of that sale is still an important one.14 An excellent picture of these early days of American efforts in numismatics is to be foundin a series of three articles by A(gustus) B. S(age), "Recollections of a Coin Collector,"American Journal of Numismatics, Feb. 1867, pp. 76-77; March 1867, pp. 85-86; May 1867,pp. 8-9.16 A(ugustus) B. S(age), "Recollections of a Coin Collector," American Journal of Numis-matics, Feb. 1867, pp. 76-77. Sage lists as present at that first meeting Messrs. Foskett,Oliver, Groh, Fiske, Gibbs, English, Mayers, Boughton, Norton, Hill, and himself. He cites



NOTES to The Origins 31!the officers elected as Dr. Isaac H. Gibbs, President, Frank H. Norton, Recording Secretary,James O. Foskett, Librarian, Edward Groh, Curator, and Augustus B. Sage, CorrespondingSecretary. In this he erred because Fiske and Norton are recorded as becoming members onMay 11, 1858, while Mayers was elected to membership on July 13, 1858. According to theminutes therefore these men could not have been present at the first meeting while Atkinson,Melber, Vail and Whitmore are definitely recorded as having attended, but Sage omits themcompletely. As a result Sage did not mention the election of Vail and Whitmore as Vice-Presidents. In addition Sage cites Norton instead of Oliver as Recording Secretary and Fos-

kett as Librarian instead of Actuary while Edward Groh is given the office of Curator which didnot yet exist. William R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society withLists of Founders, Incorporators, Officers and Members (New York, 1892), p. 5, concedes the pri-macy of the Numismatic Society of Philadelphia. He did, however, feel that these errors in theaccount given by Sage could not "be mere chance differences, arising from defective memoryof the events and persons, but are clearly a recollection of a meeting, held at some time in theyear 1857, of which the Society has no written minutes, and which may have preceded theorganization in December, 1857, of the society at Philadelphia."16 In response to inquiries from the Society, Edward Groh extracted the relevant portionsof his diary and included them in a letter to Mr. William Poillon. This letter, dated April 28,1879, is in the archives of the American Numismatic Society, but it has never been published.

17 A facsimile of the invitation to Theophilus W. Lawrence is to be found in Weeks, op. cit.,p.6.18 In response to inquiries by the Society, Dr. Thomas Dunn English, about whom muchmore will be said, offered this description of Vail in a letter which he sent to the Society inMarch of 1879. All the evidence points to Vail having come to a very unfortunate end.19 We can be certain that Alfred Boughten survived the war because on May 12, 1864, heâ€¢was once again nominated for membership in the revived Society by Dr. George H. Perine andEdward Groh. Apparently he had permitted his connection with the group to lapse completelyduring the war years. The death of Henry Whitmore was announced at the meeting of De-cember 22, 1864. A(ugustus) B. S(age), "Recollections of a Coin Collector," American Journalaf Numismatics, March 1867, pp. 85-86, states Henry Whitemore (Whitmore) began collect-

ing in 1859, "and being a gentleman of wealth and cultivated taste, soon formed a very finecollection. His taste ran mainly on fine bronze and silver medals, and the Greek and Romanseries." The death of James Oliver was announced on Jan. 19, 1891, after he had served theSociety in a number of important capacities. It should also be noted that Theophilus W.Lawrence and William H. Morgan, who were added to the list of founders in 1879, are other-wise unknown. After the receipt of Edward Groh's letter detailing the facts surrounding theformation of the Society, Lawrence's name was added to the list. At a special meeting of theExecutive Committee of the Society on May 9, 1879, this letter was read, and "The Sect'ymoved that the date of the Founding of this Soc. be altered to Mch. 15, 1858, and the nameof T. W. Lawrence be added to the list of Founding Members. Mr. Wood (Isaac F. Wood, amember of one of the leading publishing fiims in the city, William Wood & Co.) moved toamend by leaving out the words "Mch. 15". On motion it was carried. The original motionas amended was then adopted." It is very likely that a similar set of circumstances resulted inthe recognition of William H. Morgan as one of the founders though no record of it has beenrecovered.20 See the obituary notice concerning Dr. Asher D. Atkinson in The Numismatist, XXII,No. 11 (November 1909), p. 310. In that notice he is said to have attended the "Friends'



312 NOTES to The OriginsSchool" in Philadelphia with his cousin, but in the biography of Thomas Dunn English it isspecifically noted that the poet attended the Friends' Academy at Burlington.21 A manuscript autobiographical sketch exists in the New York Public Library. Other references for works on English are cited in Dictionary of American Biography, VI, pp. 166-167.The sketch in the DAB is the best short summary of the career of English and serves as thesource for most of the information given in the text.22 Dr. Asher D. Atkinson's sister, who was therefore also a cousin of Thomas Dunn English,notified the writer of the obituary notice of her brother in The Numismatist, XXII, No. 11

(November 1909), p. 310, that Atkinson's teacher had served as the "master so cruel and grim"of "Ben Bolt."23 The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, IV, pp. 322-323, contains a contemporaryaccount of the life of English and gives a detailed account of how the poem came to be usedin the drama. "In 1846 Charles Porter was managing the Pittsburg Theater. Among his com-pany was a young man by the name of Nelson F. Kneass, a brother of the United Statesdistrict-attorney of Pennsylvania. Nelson had taken to a roving life, much to the chagrin of his family. He had a fine tenor voice and some musical ability, but he was a very indifferentactor. Porter told him if he could get up a song to suit himself he would cast him for a walkingpart in the new drama, "The Battle of Buena Vista." An Englishman, by the name of Hunt, asort of hanger-on of the company, had read "Ben Bolt" when it had been copied in some Eng-

lish newspaper, remembered the greater part of it, and fixed up some words to fill the deficiency.To this Kneass adapted a German air, and sang the song in the piece."24 The later career of English is worthy of notice even though he does not appear to havebeen an active member of the American Numismatic Society after the first month of itsestablishment. In 1863-64 he was a member of the New Jersey legislature and in hissecond term served as leader of the house. In 1870 he purchased an anti-Lincoln journalwhich collapsed after a year. He was elected as a representative to Congress as a Democratin 1890 and served for two terms, from 1891-1895, but was defeated for re-election the thirdtime. On June 17, 1899, he died at a ripe old age with a great many poems and publicationsto his credit. It has often been said that the attention and respect accorded to him in Congressresulted from the success of the poem "Ben Bolt" as much as from any other source.

25 This is the date given in the obituary notice in the American Journal of Numismatics,January 1905, p. 91, and it agrees with that in the obituary notice published in The Numis-matist, XVIII, No. 1 (January 1905), p. 29, which states that he was sixty-seven years old athis death. In the historiographer's report published in Proceedings (Jan. 16, 1905), p. 13, it isstated that he was born in 1844.26 Cf. the defense of electrotyping by A(ugustus) B. S(age), "Recollections of a CoinCollector," American Journal of Numismatics, March 1867, pp. 85-86, who tells also of the storyof Groh's connection with this art.27 For his services in preparing this first constitution Dr. English was made an honorarymember of the Society on January 20, 1896.Notes to The Early Years, 1858-18641 Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic Society adopted April 6th, 1858 (NewYork,1858), Art. 1. A committee consisting of Sage, Foskett, and Vail, was appointed at a specialmeeting on April 20, 1858 to superintend the printing of the document; and at the same meet-



NOTES to The Early Years 313ing a vote of thanks was unanimously tendered to Dr. English "for the excellent manner inwhich the Constitution and By-Laws were drawn up and engrossed by him.""Ibid., art. 111.3 For this two year period of the history of the Society it should be noted that all the con-temporary sources are unpublished. The manuscript record of the minutes and the correspon-dence which has survived the action of time in the archives of the American NumismaticSociety provide the sole sources for this period, except for some few letters from men who took part in the early days of the Society and were contacted by mail during the investigation into

the origins of the Society in 1879. Edward Groh in an unpublished letter of April 28, 1879,tells of the election of Dr. Gibbs and the fact that Dr. English received four votes, which isconfirmed by the minutes. Groh continued his remarks to explain the conduct of English andwrote, "the disappointment I suppose took away all his interest in the Society and he calledno more." English himself, as noted above, had a different explanation for his conduct, asgiven in a letter of March 25, 1879. In a letter of January 22, 1896, Dr. English accepted anhonorary membership in the Society and repeated his charges as the reason for his earlydeparture from its ranks. In that same letter, however, he noted that the Society was in 1896in the hands of "Gentlemen of science and ability" and had "high standing among learnedassociations."

4 William R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society with Lists of Founders, Incorporators, Officers and Members (New York, 1892), p. 12, noted the fact that Dr.Gibbs was at his own request allowed to retire.6 Dodge remained President of the Society during the entire period of the Civil War whenit was a dormant organization, but on January 9, 1864, he was elected a corresponding member.He had already been succeeded in the presidency on March 11th of that year. By March 28,all trace of the whereabouts of Robert J. Dodge had been lost, and he was quietly droppedfrom the roll of corresponding members. Attempts were made to locate Dodge in both 1878and 1882 but to no avail. In an unpublished letter January 27, 1878, in the archives of theSociety, Frank H. Norton volunteered the information that he had known Dodge very welland that Dodge "was a surveyor in this city, one engaged on local department work." In an-other letter of April 2, 1882, also from Frank H. Norton, Dodge is decribed as having been"an engineer in the city services," and it is suggested that he "might be heard from at theDepartment of Public Works or Croton Water Board." Edward Groh noted in answer to aninquiry addressed to him in 1882 that "Robert J. Dodge was President of our Society for ayear and probably resides in the city at present as I read his name in the papers once inawhile in connection with some literary or scientific association." Letter from Edward Grohto William Poillon, February 6, 1882.* A brief description of the career of Frank H. Norton is to be found in The National Cy-clopedia of American Biography, IX, p. 515.7 Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic Society, Adopted September 1858 (New

York, 1858).8 Bramhall had become a member at the first semi-annual meeting. Very little is knownabout him, but he was elected as a corresponding member in the revived Society on October 10, 1867, and died in 1902. He seems to have been an avid collector, and his collection of business cards and tokens was one of the first extensive ones sold in this country. Catalogueof a Valuable and Choice Collection of American qnd Foreign Coins, Medals and Tokens, Ancient andModem to be sold at Public Auction by Messrs. Ceo. A. Lovett & Co., March 26 and 27, 1860 (NewYork, n.d.). Bramhall himself after the Civil Wrar was responsible for a small issue of medalets



314 NOTES to The Early Yearswhich he designed. He describes these pieces in a letter to the editor of the American Journal of Numismatics, August 1867, pp. 40-41.* Augustus B. Sage, "Recollections of a Coin Collector." American Journal of Numismatics,May 1867, pp. 8-9, records these facts and notes that when he met Bramhall in Washingtonin 1867, the latter mentioned that he suffered occasionally from his wounds. Sage himself served as a colonel in the United States Army.10 Letter of that date from Sage to Peter Cooper.11 Letter from Peter Cooper to Augustus B. Sage, May 6, 1858.

12 Edward S. Cummings became a member of the Society on March 31, 1859, and on thatsame day he made a significant contribution to the coin cabinet. Aside from this one instanceof serving on a committee to find suitable rooms he appears to have taken no further interestin the Society.11 Mortimer S. Brown was elected to membership on January 6, 1859, and only served onthis committee.14 "Clinton Hall was the new name of the Astor Place Opera House, which had been pur-chased and remodelled in 1854 by the Clinton Hall Association, an organization of merchantsestablished in 1828 to erect a buildingâ€”the first Clinton Hallâ€”for the Mercantile Library(Moses King, edit., King's Handbook of New York City. Boston, 2nd edition, 1893: 328)." John

Kirkland Wright, Geography in the Making. The American Geographical Society 1851-1951 (NewYork: The American Geographical Society, 1952), p. 42.14 An unpublished copy of this petition which was evidently prepared in the period after the Civil War exists in the archives of the American Numismatic Society. This copy was madeduring the years when the Society was known as the American Numismatic and Archaeolo-gical Society, 1864-1907.19 That was clearly the intention of the Directors of Cooper Institute as shown by an un-published letter dated September 17, 1859, from I. T. Hodge, assistant Secretary of Cooper Institute to F. H. Norton. Cf. Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of the American Numis-matic Society with an Historical Sketch (New York, 1915), p. 3.17 William S. Frederick Mayers became a member of the Society on July 13, 1858, but hehad signed the original manuscript copy of the Constitution on June 27th of that year. At thesemi-annual meeting on November 3, 1858, he was elected Treasurer and he continued activein the affairs of the Society until February 17, 1859. At that time he retired from the office of Treasurer because of his imminent departure for Europe and was elected an honorary member.Mayer's death was announced to the Society November 19, 1878. In the intervening yearshe resided in China and fulfilled his function as a correspondent of the Society.18 Benson J. Lossing wrote The Pictorial Book of the Civil War in the United States of America.18 Letter from Benson J. Lossing to Augustus B. Sage, July 2, 1858.80 New York Daily Tribune (Nov. 6, 1858); New York Times (Nov. 11, 1858). These are shortnotes about the semi-annual meeting. There had been earlier ones as well because on

October 21, 1858, Mayers received a vote of thanks "for causing articles in relation to theSociety to be published in the public papers." See New York Daily Tribune (April 8, 1858), and(April 15, 1858), for notices of the first two meetings of the Society.21 Letters from J. Wm. Jacobs of South China, Maine, (Feb. 25, 1859) and Peleg Pease of New Bedford, Mass., (Mar. 12, 1859) to Frank H. Norton.22 Letter in the archives of the American Numismatic Society.28 Ferdinand I. Ilsley, who was elected a resident member of the American NumismaticSociety on May 10, 1866, was one of the founders of this Essex County group. See the obituary



NOTES to The Early Years 315notice included in the Historiographer's Report published in Proceedings (March 16, 1891),p. 10.'* William R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society with Lists of Founders, Incorporates, Officers and Members (New York, 1892), p. 6.** Letter fromjosiah Brewer to Frank H. Norton, January 11, 1859.Â«â€¢ The New York Saturday Press (Feb. 12, 1859). Two unpublished letters (C. Atwater toJ. H. Lyman, Nov. 22, 1858, and J. H. Lyman to Frank H. Norton, Nov. 24, 1858) exist inthe archives of the American Numismatic Society. From these letters it is clear that the object

in the mind of Atwater was the sale of the cup at a substantial gain. The report of the committeecannot have been overly pleasing to him.27 The European societies were founded approximately a quarter of a century before thefirst American group. The President's Address published in the Proceedings of the NumismaticSociety (in London, 1836-37), p. 5, indicates that the Society was newly founded and in thePresidential Address of the next year (Proceedings of the Numismatic Society, 1837-38), p. 4, areference is made to the formation of the Society "less than two years" earlier. The Europeanjournals of numismatics appear to have begun publication slightly more than a quarter of acentury before the start of the American Journal of Numismatics in 1866. The Revue Numismatiquefirst appeared in 1836, the Numismatic Chronicle in the same year, and the Revue de la Numisma-

iique Beige in 1845.88 A draft of the letter exists in the archives of the American Numismatic Society.29 Unpublished letter in the archives of the American Numismatic Society. Hickox alsoâ€¢wrote "The History of American Coinage," Banker's Magazine and Statistical Register, XI (Nov.1861), pp. 322-337, and A History of the Bills of Credit or Paper Money Issued by New York from1709 to 1789 with a Description of the Bills and Catalogue of the Various Issues (Albany, 1866).Hickox at the time was a resident of Albany, but he must have later moved to Washington.In 1882 he was apparently arrested for the crime "of opening mail letters and pocketing themoney," and W. L. Bramhall, who was then a Corresponding Member residing in Washington,notified the Society in answer to a query on the subject, that Hickox admitted his guilt. Letter from William L. Bramhall to William Poillon, February 24, 1882. In consequence the Exe-cutive Committee requested his ouster from the Society, and his name was dropped fromthe rolls. Proceedings (March 28, 1882), p. 5. It is known that in 1878 John H. Hickox wasconnected with the Office of Copyrights in the Library of Congress.80 Letter from Augustus B. Sage to Benson J. Lossing, July 9, 1858.81 A letter from David M. Balfour to F. H. Norton, November 11, 1858, records the do-nation of a pine tree shilling of 1652, a Massachusetts "copper" and a "half-copper" of 1788,and a Connecticut "copper" of 1785. Another letter from Balfour to the Society, November 16,1858, records a further donation of a United States chain or link pattern cent of 1787, another pine tree shilling of Massachusetts of 1652, a Massachusetts "copper" and "half-copper" of 1787, and a Connecticut "copper" of the same date.

32 An unpublished letter in the archives of the Society, of Charles Endicott to AugustusB. Sage, October 19, 1858, records Endicott's acceptance of a corresponding membership.33 Letter from the Reverend J. Tellier, SJ, to the Society, April 8, 1859.84 A note in the minute books at this point records:A lapse in the meetings of the Society now occurs, caused mainly by the difficulty of obtaining a room, the one offered to the Society by the Cooper Inst. not being suitable.The political troubles and the rebellion, tended also to disturb the operations of theSociety, so much so that several attempts to hold meetings failed, a quorum could not be



316 NOTES to Rebirth and Growthassembled, and it was not until the time recorded in the following pages that theSociety was revived under a new title.(Signed) Jas. Oliver Rec. Sec'yNotes to Rebirth and Growth, 1864-18731 "Numismatics and Numismatic Societies," American Journal of Numismatics, (May 1867),p. 3.2 Mortimer S. Brown was elected a member on January 6, 1859, and served on the com-

mittee to find a room in May of the same year. Isaac John Greenwood, Jr., was elected tomembership on January 12, 1859, and was later in 1864, to serve as 2nd Vice President. Hisservices to the Society continued to be numerous, and in 1907 he was named a patron of theSociety. Two short biographical sketches of Greenwood are found in ed. Lyman HoraceWeeks, Prominent Families of Mew York (New York, 1898), p. 246, and Leslie's History of theGreater New York, (New York, n. d.), Ill, p. 574. The By-Laws adopted in September 1858stated that the presence of five members would constitute a quorum.3 Proceedings (March 18, 1895), published in The American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety of New York City. Proceedings and Papers. Thirty-sixth, seventh and eighth Annual Meetings.1894-1895-1896, pp. 52-3, which is the obituary notice in the historiographer's report sub-mitted by William Poillon.

4 Cf. Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society with anHistorical Sketch (New York, 1915), p. 4. The minutes do not always record where a meetingtook place nor the reasons for a change. Also see William R. Weeks, History of The AmericanNumismatic and Archaeological Society (Formerly Known as the American Numismatic Society), withLists of Founders, Incorporatos. Officers, and Members (New York, 1892), pp. 10-11.6 In the election of March 11, 1864, Frank H. Norton was named as President, Dr. GeorgeH. Perine, Vice-President, James Oliver, Recording Secretary, F. A. Wood, CorrespondingSecretary, John Hanna, Treasurer, and Edward Groh, Curator and Librarian. Thus threenew members and three old members held office.4 Both committees consisted of President Norton, John Hanna and F. A. Wood.7 The Committee on the seal was composed of Wood, Oliver, and Dr. Perine.

8 Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society Founded 1857(New York, 1864).8 Articles of Incorporation, Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety Founded 1857.â€”Incorporated 1865. (New York, 1865).10 The committee consisted of J. F. Me. Coy, R. Hewitt, Jr., and E. Groh.See the published minutes of the special meeting of July 16, 1867, in the American Journal of Numismatics, November 1867, p. 66.11 Published minutes of the regular meeting of October 10, 1867, in the American Journal of Numismatics, November 1867, p. 66.12 The results of this trip abroad were published in A Pilgrimage to Treves, through the Valleyof the Meuse and the Forest of Ardennes in the Year 1844 (1845). He also published several other books and numerous articles during his life.13 Obituaries for Professor Anthon appeared in the American Journal of Numismatics, July1883, pp. 22-23; New York Times (June 9, 1883); and New York Tribune of the same date.



NOTES to Rebirth and Growth 31714 The Anthon Collection was sold at five separate sales between 1879 and 1884 by Bangs& Co. Pt. I (Nov. 17-18, 1879); Pt. II (Nov. 15, 1880); Pt. Ill (Nov. 9, 1882); Pt. IV (May 5,1884); Pt. V (Oct. 20, 1884). During his life Professor Anthon disposed of his modern andmediaeval European coinage in the first three sales but it was only after his death in 1883 thatthe ancient and American coins were sold.ls Cf. William R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, pp. 12-13.Compare the account given by Weeks with the published minutes of the meetings of April 25,and May 9, 1867, in the American Journal of Numismatics (May-June 1867), pp. 6-7, and 18.The all too brief account of Professor Charles E. Anthon's career given above may be supple-mented by referring to the obituary in the American Journal of Numismatics (July 1883), pp.22-23 and the DAB, I, p. 314.18 The text of that resolution can be found in the American Journal of Numismatics (February1868), pp. 94-5.17 In 1866 the name of the college was changed from the New York Free Academy to Col-lege of the City of New York, and the medal was issued to commemorate the event. I.Q,.,"The Commemoration Medal of the College of the City of New York," American Journal of Numismatics (October 1867), pp. 57-9.18 William R. Weeks, History of The American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, p. 9, saysthat the seal was designed by "Dr. Anthon." Unfortunately there is no contemporary evidenceto prove this conclusively.

18 Ibid., p. 9, describes these fleur de lis as a circle of stars.20 George H. Lovett became a member of the Society on December 23, 1867, and it istherefore quite proper to surmise that his interest was aroused by the task of cutting the cor-porate seal and that as a result he became a member and finally donated the seal.21 "Parva Ne Pereant," American Journal of Numismatics, January 1879, p. 68.22 Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, By-Laws, chap.IV, sect. 2 (p. 11).23 The committee consisted of Wood, Hanna and Leathe."Letter from the Department of the Secretary of State of New York to Wood, December 7,1864.26 Letter from Joseph K. Murray to F. A. Wood, January 26, 1865. Murray says in part,

"But there appears to have been no society incorporated under the laws of this State up to the20th inst. with which you need fear confusion from even a similarity of title, at least if theword 'Numismatic' is to precede 'Archaeological' in yours." It would seem as though anearlier archaeological society must have been incorporated.28 At the elections of March 11, 1864, Groh had apparently been elected to both posts si-multaneously even though this was irregular.27 Frank Leathe was one of the members elected on June 8, 1864. He had been very activein the affairs of the Society in the intervening eight months.28 A letter from Joseph K. Murray to Wood, April 4, 1865, shows that Wood was the manin contact with the attorney.29 Articles of Incorporation, Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety Founded 1857â€”Incorporated 1865 (New York, 1865). This document contains the onlycopy of the original seal of the Society. Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of the Ameri-can Numismatic Society with an Historical Sketch, pp. 4-6, reproduces these documents, as doesWilliam R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, (Formerly known asthe American Numismatic Society), with Lists of Founders, Incorporators, Officers and Members, pp. 25-26.



318 NOTES to Rebirth and Growth80 Letter from Henry Champion to F. Augustus Wood, April 20, 1864.81 This is quite evident from the contents of a letter from Henry Champion to F. AugustusWood, April 30, 1864. It is interesting to note that among the members of the Executive Com-mittee of the New Haven Numismatic Society at that date was C. Wyllys Betts, who was electeda corresponding member of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society in 1868,and became a resident member in 1885. In 1864 Betts was a student at Yale and just in his lateteens or early twenties. He graduated from Yale in 1867 and later entered Columbia CollegeLaw School. This was very much in the tradition of his family, for he was one of the two sons

of Frederick J. Betts, a prominent lawyer of means who lived at Newburgh on the Hudson.After graduation from Columbia College Law School, C. Wyllys Betts joined his brother's lawfirm, Whitney and Betts. In later life he was connected with the firm of Betts, Atterbury &Betts. Unfortunately he died at the very young age of forty-two after a week's siege of pneu-monia. During his life he had contributed occasionally to numismatic literature and he hadamassed a fine collection which he left to Yale College. At the special meeting of May 3,1887, the members of the Society passed a resolution expressing their sympathy to his familyupon his demise. The historiographer's report for ihe year 1888 contains a short obituarynotice concerning C. Wyllys Betts. Proceedings (March 20, 1888), p. 14.82 Letter from Henry Champion to F. Augustus Wood, May 18, 1864. Wood acknowledgedthe receipt of this medal in a letter to Henry Champion, May 20, 1864.

88 The unpublished minutes of the New York Numismatic Society record that John F.McCoy, Hewitt, Levick, Strobridge, Earle, Watson, Edwards, Hall, Nexsen, Norton, andBurns were present.31 The minutes of the New York Numismatic Society reveal that as early as the meeting of February 20, 1864, Lovett and another gentleman, Lilliendahl, had made known their in-tention to contribute to the Society.36 Cf. William R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, (Former-ly Known as the American Numismatic Society), with Lists of Founders, Incorporators, Officers and Mem-bers, pp. 8-9.36 This document is reproduced in full from the minute books of the Society by William R.Weeks, op. cit., p. 9.

37 Published minutes of the meeting of ihe American Numismatic and ArchaeloogicalSociety on October 25, 1866, in The American Journal of Numismatics, Ociober 1866, p. 50.88 A note to this effect attesting to ihe completion of this task signed by Isaac F. Wood(formerly F. Augustus Wood) for William Poillon, the Librarian of the Society, dated August1875, was inserted on the front page of the minute book of the New York Numismatic Society.39 This resolution is printed in the American Journal of Numismatics, May 1866, p. 5, as part of a campaign to distribute the medals to the public. It is also reprinted in William R. Weeks,History of The American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, (Formerly known as the AmericanNumismatic Society), with Lists of Founders, Incorporators, Officers and Members, p. 6. At the meetingof June 22nd it was decided to have ihe resolution engrossed and forwarded to Mrs. Lincolnat a cost not exceeding ten dollars.40 William R. Weeks, op, cit., pp. 16-24, presents a documentary history of the Lincolnmedal which has been largely followed.41 Letter from F. Augustus Wood to Bishop Wood, May 12, 1865, published in ibid. p. 17.This letter exists in the archives of the Society.42 Unpublished letter, extracts of which are preserved in the archives of the Society, fromE. H. Coates (May 17, 1865).



NOTES to Rebirth and Growth 3194 The advertisement read:FINE ARTSA Lincoln MedalThe American Numismatic and Archaeological Society have in preparation a bronzemedal designed to commemorate the life and perpetuate the name of Abraham Lincoln.It will be three inches in diameter, and will bear on the obverse a bust of the late Presidentand on the reverse an inscription. Subscriptions will be received by the Secretary of theSociety, whose direction can be found at the Society Library Building. The names of the

subscribers that have not already been printed will be found in another part of this paper.The list is still open at our counter.This advertisement is reproduced in William R. Weeks, op. at., p. 17.44 Letters from Lewis S. Hayden of the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington which quotesthe advertisement, May 19, 1865, and from Chauncey K. Williams of Rutland, Vt., toF. Augustus Wood, May 20, 1865.45 Letter from F. Augustus Wood to Lewis S. Hayden, May 29, 1865. This letter is clearlyin answer to the one from Hayden cited in the previous footnote.46 The only evidence that such a competitive examination of the works of the various en-gravers was held lies in the report in the American Journal of Numismatics, (May 1866), p. 5.Cf. William R. Weeks, op. cit., pp. 17-18.

47 Emil Sigel advertised in the first few issues of the American Journal of Numismatics. Hisadvertisement read: "Engraving and Chasing in all its Branches, Dies for Medals, Jewelry,Silverware, &c. Seals, Seal Presses, Stamps, Letters. Designs and Models for Castings. Por-traits, Figures, Ornaments. Emil Sigel, Designer and Modeller, 195 Broadway, cor. Dey St.,N.Y."48 Cf. William R. Weeks, op. cit., p. 17.49 The Boston Gazette (May 21, 1865), New York Herald (May 19, 1865), and the New York Commercial Advertiser (May 29, 1865) contained notices of the fact that the medal was to bestruck by the Society. The Chicago Tribune (June 26, 1865) also gave a description of the pro-posed medal and instructed the public how to become subscribers. The New York Evening Post(July 18, 1865), the New York Times (July 14, 1865), and the New York Herald (July 19, 1865)

contained notices of the last meeting of that Spring, and, of course, there was a good deal of information included concerning the medal. The Boston Gazette (July 23, 1865) included adescription of the medal.60 Of course some of this publicity stemmed directly from the wide circulation of some of the very famous New York newspapers of the time. Thus a letter from Chauncey K. Williamsof Rutland, Vt. to F. Augustus Wood, May 20, 1865 asking particular questions regardingthe medal refers to the notice in the New York Herald of May 19th.41 Letter from William Barber to F. Augustus Wood, August 26, 1865.62 William R. Weeks, History of The American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, p. 18,speaks of Barber as an engraver "who has since attained prominence as a medallist." Theobituary notice for William Barber indicates that he had produced over forty medals, bothpublic and private. American Journal of Numismatics, October 1879, pp. 55-6. Also see L. Forrer,Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin-, Gem-, and Seal-Engravers, and Mint-Masters &c. Ancientand Modern with References to their Works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900 (London, 1904), I, pp. 122-3;J. F. Loubat, The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 (New York, 1880),I, pp. 29, 418-9, 434; and George G. Evans, Illustrated History of the United States Mint (Phila-delphia, 1893), pp. 127-8. Barber served as fifth engraver of the Mint.



32O NOTES to Rebirth and Growth53 Letter from George T. Paine to F. Augustus Wood, August 30, 1865. In this letter Painesays of Barber, "His powers are of a very high order and his reputation with us numismatistshere is very high." The Numismatic Association had been preparing to issue a medal of Roger Williams and by common consent Barber was given preference.M Letter from F. Augustus Wood to George T. Paine, August 31, 1865. Cf. another letter from F. Augustus Wood to William Barber, August 31, 1865."Letter from John Hanna to F. Augustus Wood, September 2, 1865."Unpublished letter in the archives of the Society.

"The letter which no longer exists, is quoted in part by William R. Weeks, op. cit., p. 18.68 New York World (Feb. 10, 1866); New York Herald (Feb. 10, 1866); New York Evening Post(Feb. 10, 1866).M New York Herald (February 12, 1866).60 A letter from F. Augustus Wood to C. K. Williams, June 22, 1865, contains the remark "the woodcut is so poorly executed that it only gives a general idea of the design; it was amistake to have it printed in bronze color." A letter from D. Fitzgerald of Rhode Island toF. Augustus Wood, June 28, 1865, says, "I have placed the subscription list for your Lincolnmedal in the hands of one of our Booksellers, Mr. Sidney L. Rider & Bro. But I am afraid theywill not be able to procure many subscriptions, owing to the wood cut being such a poor

likeness & not having a copy of the medal to show."61 Letter in the archives of the Society, also quoted in part in William R. Weeks, op. cit.,p. 19.62 Letter in the archives of the Society quoted in part by Weeks.68 Letter in the archives of the Society quoted in part by Weeks.64 American Journal of Numismatics, May 1866, p. 5.66 American Journal of Numismatics, May 1866, p. 5. Of course it should be noted that at thatdate the American Journal of Numismatics was being issued by the Society, but anyone who hasseen the medal will be forced to agree with the comment.86 William R. Weeks, op. cit., p. 20."That one was sent to the London firm is mentioned in the American Journal of Numismatics,June 1866, p. 10, while the minutes of June 14th record the shipment of a medal to Applegate.It was probably Applegate to whom a notice from a San Francisco newspaper referred, andwhich was reprinted in the American Journal of Numismatics, July 1866, p. 22, and read, "Agentleman of this city, well-known in Numismatic circles, has received a subscription list tothe "Lincoln Medal," issued by the American Numismatic Society of New York. The medal isstruck in bronze, three inches in diameter, and has an excellent picture of our late President.All who are curious and desire to obtain one of these mementoes, can find the subscription-list at Scott & Glover's stock brokers, Montgomery Street, near Pine." He was probably thesame Applegate who was elected a corresponding member on June 14, 1866, and whoseobituary was published in the Historiographer's report in Proceedings (March 21, 1898),

p. 13.*8 American Journal of Numismatics, November 1866, p. 50. These minutes are erroneouslydated as October 25th, in the printed version.â€¢â€¢ American Journal of Numismatics, October 1866, p. 42: "We have received from Messrs.J. S. & A. B. Wyon, of 287 Regent Street and 2 Langham Chambers, London, W., a circular announcing their purchase of Mr. C. J. Hill's invention for making reduced copies of Bas-Reliefs for medal and coin dies and seal, &c., in steel, gold, silver, ivory and other materials,and either in relief or intaglio. The firm announce that they are now ready to execute work



NOTES to Rebirth and Growth 321in this department, and as this is the only invention by which the delicacy and finish of apattern can be fully equalled in a reduced copy, they will doubtless be liberally patronized."J. S. and A. B. Wyon were Medallists and Chief Engraver of Seals, to Her Majesty the Queen,and their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. On the Wyon family see LeonardForrer, The Wyons (London: Spink & Son, Ltd., 1917).70 Letter from Stevens to Wood, September 5, 1866, quoted in part by Weeks, op. cit., p. 21.This was apparently the source for the statement in the American Journal of Numismatics becausethe final paragraph of the letter is a request for assistance in publicizing the invention in

America. â€¢71 Published minutes of the meeting of November 8, 1866 in American Journal of Numismatics,December 1866, p. 59.72 Letter in the archives of the Society also quoted by Weeks, op. cit., p. 21.73 The published minutes of the meeting of the Society on December 13, 1866, are erroneous-ly dated as December 12th. American Journal of Numismatics, January 1867, p. 66.74 Published minutes of that meeting in American Journal of Numismatics, January 1867, p. 66.76 See R. W. G. Vail, Knickerbocker Birthday A Sesqui-Centennial History of The New-York Historical Society 1804-1954 (New York, 1954), pp. 148, 218, and 350. For more informationregarding Parish see the obituary notice published in the New York Times (December 18, 1914).

76 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society with anHistorical Sketch, p. 27.77 Published minutes of the meeting of March 14, 1867, in American Journal of Numismatics,April 1867, p. 90.78 The Annual Meeting of March 28th was actually deferred until the next day, and it wasat that meeting that this action was taken. See the published minutes of the Annual Meetingof 1867 in American Journal of Numismatics, April 1867, p. 90.79 The text of this resolution is in the printed minutes for the meeting of December 12,1867, in American Journal of Numismatics, January 1868, p. 83. On January 16th the committeewas empowered to act "as in their judgement should be for the best interest of the Society."80 Letter in the archives of the Society. It is also reproduced by William R. Weeks, op. cit.,p. 22.81 The text of this agreement is to be found printed in Weeks, op. cit., p. 23, and in thepublished minutes of the meeting of February 13, 1868, in American Journal of Numismatics,March 1868, p. 100.82 It is suggested that the idea for the American Journal of Numismatics may have arisen as aresult of a small publication called "Norton's Literary Letter," which was conducted byFrank H. Norton. Some four or five issues of this "Literary Letter" had appeared at intervalsin the preceding years, and occasionally there were articles on numismatic subjects, but sincethat publication had been discontinued sometime before Levick's proposal and was never mentioned in the course of the discussions regarding the Journal, the new publication was con-

ceived independently. Cf. American Journal of Archaeology, April 1907, pp. 105-106.83 Joseph N. T. Levick, "Reminiscences of Coin-Collecting." American Journal of Numis-matics, November 1868, pp. 55-56.84 Joseph N. T. Levick, "Reminiscences of Coin-Collecting.-Continued," American Journalof Numismatics, December 1868, p. 63.86 "Numismatic Journalism as a Fine Art," American Journal of Numismatics, March 1867,p. 81. This same subject had been discussed at the meeting of February 28th, and the minutesof that meeting were published in the same issue of the Journal. In the issue of May 1867 there21



322 NOTES to Rebirth and Growthwas an insert soliciting subscriptions to make the journal self-sustaining and pledging to devote"any pecuniary surplus that may occur to the further improvement, and the Pictorial Illu-tration, of the Journal."88 The wording of these two resolutions is to be found in the Salutatory for the second year of issue. American Journal of Numismatics, May 1867, p. 1.87 See the previous note. Norton evidently referred to the fact that he was a member of theoriginal committee to establish the Journal appointed on March 8, 1865, when he spoke of refusing to serve for a second year.

88 See the published minutes of the meeting of April llth, 1867, in American Journal of Numismatics, May 1867, p. 6.89 Both terms appear to be used interchangeably in the record.90 Professor Anthon had been elected Corresponding Secretary at the meeting of March 29,1867, and he had been appointed to the Editorial Committee at that same meeting. On April11 th, as we have seen, that appointment was confirmed by election.91 American Journal of Numismatics, May 1867, pp. 6-7.98 Published minutes of the meeting of May 9, 1867, in the American Journal of NumismaticsJune 1867, p. 18.83 Published minutes of the meeting of May 20, 1867, of the Rhode Island Numismatic

Association in American Journal of Numismatics, June 1867, pp. 20-21, contains a statement byPaine, a member of that Association, urging the continued support of this worthy endeavor.94 "To Subscribers and Numismatists," American Journal of Numismatics, April 1868, pp.105-106.96 Published minutes of the meeting of March 26, 1868, in American Journal of Numismatics,April 1868, p. 109.96 Published minutes of the meeting of April 23, 1868, in American Journal of Numismatics,May 1868, p. 4.97 Published minutes of the meeting of October 8, 1868, in American Journal of Numismatics,November 1868, p. 53. In an editorial at the beginning of 1869, it was pointed out that thesubscription list had failed to grow appreciably during the year before, and that negotiationswere then in progress to achieve this rotation of the task of editing and publishing. AmericanJournal of Numismatics, January 1869, p. 65.98 Published minutes of the Annual Meeting on March 24, 1870, in American Journal of Numismatics, April 1870, p. 97.99 Published minutes of the meeting of April 8, 1869 in American Journal of Numismatics,May 1869, p. 5. Announcements to this effect were made in a flyleaf attached to the issuesof the Journal of April and May of that year, and interestingly enough this announcement wassigned by Anthon, Levick, and Wood as the Editorial Committee. This is surprising for thereis no mention in the minutes of Wood having ever been appointed to that committee prior tothe meeting of April 8th. The April issue probably appeared before action could be taken on

any of the resolutions passed during the April meetings because it still retains the older titlefor the Journal. Wood was put on the Editorial Committee, on the motion of Daniel Parish,at the meeting of April 8th. This announcement was certainly printed after the meeting of April 8th and bound in with the April issue. We can thus infer that even though theissues were scheduled to appear on the first of each month in actual fact they appeared muchlater.100 On Lyman H. Low see "Numismatic Headlightsâ€”No. I," The Numismatist, IV (1892),pp. 1-2. Also see the following note.



NOTES to Rebirth and Growth 323101 A short, and rather incomplete, history of the American Journal of Numismatics, waspublished as an editorial at the time that the Boston Society yielded its control of the publi-cation. "The Journal of Numismatics-Reminiscent," American Journal of Numismatics, April1907, pp. 105-108.102 Letter from the Executive Committee for the Metropolitan Fair for the U. S. SanitaryCommission to the American Numismatic Society, February 12, 1864.103 Letter from Charles Tracey, Chairman of the Committee on Association to F. AugustusWood, March 22, 1864.

104 The value of the piece is mentioned in a letter from Midshipman Walter Trumbull toF. Augustus Wood, May 13, 1864. Trumbull had been recommended as a candidate for membership in the Society by Col. A. B. Eaton U. S. A., in a letter to Wood, March 19, 1864.Apparently the Society extended an offer of membership to him, but on April 2nd he answeredin a letter addressed from the Naval Academy that since his position precluded his taking an"active interest" in numismatics he would prefer a corresponding membership. That wasgranted to him on April 24th.10Â» Letter from Wood to William W. Murphy, May 18, 1864. Trumbull in his letter toWood on May 13th indicated that the gold quarter dollar was the smallest gold coin that hehad ever seen, and said that he would be in New York during the first week in June. If the

piece was still unsold at that time he would bid for it.104 Letter from Murphy to Wood, July 19, 1864.107 Letter from Wood to Murphy, November 14, 1864.108 â€¢pnis letter was published under the caption "Our National Coinage at the Paris Ex-position" in the American Journal of Numismatics, January 1867, p. 69.109 A measure of the success of this enterprise may be had by recalling the resolutionspassed by the faculty of the City College of New York in January of 1868, calling for a unifi-cation of the coinages of Great Britain, France, and the United States.110 This letter was published following that sent by Ruggles in the American Journal of Numismatics, January 1867, pp. 69-70.111 Statement made on January 24, 1867, and reported in the American Journc.] of Numis-matics, February 1867, pp. 75-76.113 Letter from Dr. Charles Clay, President of the Manchester Numismatic Society to thePresident and Members of the New York Numismatic Society (sic), August 20, 1866 in mi-nutes of meeting of February 28, 1867, in American Journal of Numismatics, March 1867, p. 82.118 Published minutes in American Journal of Numismatics, April 1867, p. 90.114 Wood's report is published in the minutes of the Annual Meeting in American Journal of Numismatics, April 1870, p. 98.116 Published minutes of the Annual Meeting of March 24, 1870, in American Journal of Nu-mismatics, April 1870, p. 98.116 F. Augustus Wood had by this point in his career changed his name to Isaac F. Wood.

Anthon's letter to Wood, May 28, 1872.117 The recor(l of the Annual Meeting of March 27, 1870, is published in American Journalof Numismatics, April 1870, pp. 97-98. The proceedings of the Society at its Annual Meetingswere not published again until 1878.118 His principal interests were John Law medals and Admiral Vernon medals, but he alsowrote on the American Fur Company's Indian medals, local New York tokens, Mexican im-perial coinage, and Spanish-American War Proclamation pieces. See the index of the AmericanJournal of Numismatics, LI (1917), s.v. Betts, Benjamin.21*



324 NOTES to Progress and Conflict111 A short obituary containing some misinformation regarding him was published in TheNumismatist, XXI (1908), p. 355.120 Unpublished letter in the archives of the Society from Isaac F. Wood to the Society(May 5, 1892).Notes to Progress and Conflict, 1873-18831 Letter in the archives of the Society from A. C. Zabriskie to William Poillon, May 21,1874. Zabriskie refers to a notice in the Evening Post and requests that his name be proposedfor membership.

2 Letters from Edward Cogan to William Poillon, June 25, 1874 and from George Hodgsdonto William Poillon, October 30, 1874.3 Letter from Dr. George H. Perine to William Poillon, January 23, 1875. This resignationwas read and accepted by the Executive Committee on May 27th. Poillon, whose task it wasto notify Perine, wrote a letter accepting the resignation, but he omitted the usual phrase indi-cating that the Executive Committee had done so "with regret." In a postscript to the letter,however, Poillon states. "As I cannot find any memoranda of the above notification amongmy papers I am in doubts whether I forwarded it. If I did not please pardon the oversight."Letter from William Poillon to Dr. George H. Ferine, November 23, 1875.* Letter from Professor Charles E. Anthon to Wood, February 6, 1875.* The members of the committee were Wood, Poillon, Hewitt, Parish, and MacKenzie.

Wood, Poillon and Parish held offices in the Society at the time.6 Articles of Incorporation; Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety (New York, 1878), p. 9. Of course this is the emended form of the Constitution of 1874,but it is possible to deduce a good deal regarding the original form of the document.7 For short biographies of Frederick J. De Peyster see Proceedings (January 15, 1906), p. 16;Leslie's History of the Greater New York. Encyclopedia of New York Biography andGenealogy (New York,n. d.) Ill, pp. 42-3. Some hint of the activity of this family in another society may be had byreferring to the index, s.v. De Peyster in R. W. G. Vail, Knickerbocker Birthday. A Sesqid-Cen-termial History of the New-York Historical Society, 1804-1954 (New York, 1954).8 John Kirkland Wright, Geography in the Making. The American Geographical Society, 1851-1951(New York, 1952), pp. 92ff.

* Letter from George C. Athole to William Poillon, June 9, 1879. Reverend Athole becamea resident member on January 21, 1879. This appears to have been his only committee ap-pointment while in the Society. He died on October 2, 1884, and obituary notices appearedin the New York Times (Oct. 4, 1884) and in Proceedings (March 17, 1885), p. 17. At his deathhe was Rector of the Church of the Holy Innocents at 136th Street in Harlem.10 Letter from A. B. Mott to William Poillon, June 12, 1879.11 Only six of these letters to William Poillon are extant in the archives of the Society:Richard Hoe Lawrence, June 17, 1879; George C. Athole, June 18, 1879; Daniel Parish, Jr.,June 19, 1879; William B. Wetmore, June 19, 1879; L. F. Montanye, June 20, 1879; andCharles H. Wright, June 22, 1879. In addition the Secretary mentioned a letter of CharlesPryer in support of the change.l2 The correspondence relating to Robert Downing in the archives of the Society, consistsof a letter from R. Clarke & Co. to Isaac F. Wood, August 19, 1877 and a letter from Brad-



NOTES to Progress and Conflict 325street & Son to Wood, April 28, 1877. A note from Levick of the same year admits that Down-ing was sponsored by him.13 On the medal see Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American NumismaticSociety with an Historical Sketch (New York, 1915), pp. 20-21.14 The Executive Committee minutes of March 8, 1877, show that Poillon paid 88 54 for postage and printing of notices for a meeting, as well as $6.60 to the referee and assignee inbankruptcy for the recovery of the membership plate. It seems almost self-evident that thePoillon Fluid, which is first mentioned in that year and was valued at 815.14, was nothing

more than the donation of these bills to the Society. This, however, cannot be proven.16 Letter from J. Oliver to the Executive Committee, March 1, 1878.16 Letter from Isaac F. Wood to William Poillon, March 20, 1883.17 Letter in the archives of the Society.18 A letter from Benjamin Betts to William Poillon, March 19, 1878, describes the inscription.19 William R. Weeks, History of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, (FormerlyKnown as the American Numismatic Society), with Lists of Founders, Incorporates, Officers, and Mem-bers (New York, 1892), p. 13.20 Letter from William Poillon to William S. Appleton, December 30, 1878. Appleton'sanswer of January 17, 1879, is also extant.21 Letter from William Poillon to Henry Phillips, Jr., February 22, 1879.

"Visitor's Guide and History of the United States Mint, Philadelphia, Pa. (Philadelphia, 1885),p. 32.28 Letter from Henry Phillips to William Poillon, March 10, 1879. Another letter fromPoillon to Henry Phillips, Jr., March 11, 1879, mentions the fact that numismatic societies wereby law entitled to procure pieces from the Mint at the price or value of the metal.24 New York Times (April 20, 1880); unpublished letter in the archives of the Society fromAndrew C. Zabriskie to the Senate and House of Representatives. (No date).25 Letter from Gaston L. Feuardent to the Society, April 20, 1880.29 For a short biography of Commander Henry H. Gorringe see The Dictionary of AmericanBiography, VII, p. 437. Also see New York Evening Post (March 21, 1883). Both the New York Herald and the New York Times (January 16, 1881) contain full descriptions of a visit by the

Society to Commander Gorringe's rooms. Gorringe's election to membership was reported inthe New York Times (November 17, 1880).27 Letter from the Committee on Arrangements to Professor Charles E. Anthon, Febru-ary 12, 1881. Also see New York Herald (February 16, 1881).28 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of the American Numismatic Society, with anHistorical Sketch (New York, 1915), pp. 22-3.29 Luigi Palma di Cesnola came from a noble family of Piedmont which traced its originsback to the late eleventh century Spain. Cesnola's early training was designed for a clericalcareer, but when the wars of the Italian Risorgimento erupted, he enlisted as a volunteer in theSardinian Army and was given an officer's commission after the battle of Novara. In 1869,after service with the Sardinian contingent in the Crimean War, Cesnola immigrated to NewYork where, at the start of the Civil War, he was commissioned a major, and subsequently alieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh New York Volunteer Cavalry. Apparently he served withsome distinction through the war, having undergone capture and wounds, and early in1865 President Lincoln conferred on him the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General. For short bio-graphies of Cesnola see Prominent Families of New York (New York, n.d.), pp. 174-5; Apple-ton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, I, p. 561; DAB, III, pp. 583-4.



326 NOTES to Progress and Conflict80 A short biography and obituary of Feuardent is to be found in the Historiographer'sReport in Proceedings (March 19, 1894), p. 17.31 "New York Museum of Art," American Journal of Numismatics, January 1873, pp. 68-9.32 At a later stage it was to become a point of contention between the two whether Feuardentactually handled any part of this transaction, and also whether the British Museum and Louvrereally did attempt to purchase any part of the collection. The evidence is strongly in favor of anaffirmative answer to both of these questions, but it is interesting to note that when Feuar-dent's obituary was published by the Society, it contained a statement to the effect that Feuar-

dent had "acted as the Agent of General di Cesnola, in disposing of his Cypriote Antiquitiesto the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City." Cesnola immediately took issue withthe remark and wrote to Weeks, the Historiographer of the Society, on April 17, 1897, pro-testing that Feuardent had never been the agent and, indeed, had nothing whatever to dowith the sale of the antiquities. The statement was not withdrawn. Letter from William R.Weeks to Henry Russell Drowne, July 21, 1897.33 Letter from James Barber to Isaac F. Wood, September 27, 1876.84 Gaston L. Feuardent, The Cesnola Collection and the De Morgan Collection. Papers Communi-cated to The American Numismatic and Archaeological Society (New York, 1878). The Society under-took the publication of these papers.35 Gaston L. Feuardent, "The Masculo-Feminine Demiurgos of the Egyptians," Proceed-

ings (March 18, 1879), pp. 19-22.36 Cf. Clarence Cook, Transformations and Migrations of Certain Statues in the Cesnola Collection(New York, 1881), pp. 1-12.87 The charges were published in the New York World (January 9, 1881).38 Gaston L. Feuardent, Answer of Gaston L. Feuardent to L. P. di Cesnola. The Accusations of Dishonesty Contained in a Communication Addressed to the Executive Committee of the MetropolitanMuseum of Art as published in the New York "World" of January 9th, 1881, Mainly Answered byCesnola's own Letters (New York, 1881).39 See also the Commercial Advertiser (March 18, 1881).40 Clarence Cook, Transformations and Migrations of Certain Statues in the Cesnola Collection,pp. 37-8.

11 Letter from William Poillon to The Principal Librarian of the British Museum, May 18,1881.42 Letter from Edward A. Bond, Principal Librarian of the British Museum, to WilliamPoillon, June 9, 1881, enclosing a letter from C. T. Newton to Bond, June 8, 1881, and one fromReginald Stuart Poole to Bond, June 9, 1881.43 Letter from Richard Hoe Lawrence to William Poillon, July 13, 1881. Also see a letter from Feuardent of the same date. Cf. Letter from Feuardent to Poillon, July 16, 1881.44 Letter from Eugene Brocheton, November 1, 1881.48 Report of W. J. Stillman on the Cesnola Collection (privately printed), p. 9. This report and thecircumstances surrounding its issuance will be discussed at a later point.46 Letters from Fred C. Burt & Co. to G. Feuardent, March 11, 1882 and from Feuardentto the Society, March 28, 1882.47 The original text of this address is extant in the archives of the Society.48 Letter from Cyrus J. Lawrence to William Poillon, March 22, 1883.48 Letter from Poillon to Gaston L. Feuardent, March 27, 1883.60 The emended text in manuscript and a letter from Hewitt to Poillon are extant in thearchives of the Society. They show the source of the printed text.



NOTES to Old Problems and New Ideas 327"Letter from Richard Ely to William Poillon, January 8, 1884.â„¢ Letter from William Poillon, January 13, 1884.68 It was ordered that this paper be published with the Proceedings of the Quarter CentennialMeeting in 1883. Proceedings (March 20, 1883), pp. 26-7."For a short biography of William James Stillman see DAB, XVII, pp. 29-30. W.J.Stillman's autobiography (The Autobiography of a Journalist) was published in two volumesin 1901 and provides some very interesting sidelights about the man.M The original text of these resolutions is extant in the archives of the Society.

6* Letter from W. J. Stillman to H. Russell Drowne, Rome, March 7th.57 Letters from Daniel Ravenel to Wood, January 5, 1875 and to William Poillon of thesame date.68 Letter from John Eaton, Commisioner of Bureau of Education, to the Society, July 23,1875.69 Letter from L. E.Jones of Publisher's Weekly, October 19, 1877. Also see letter repeatingthat request by L. E.Jones, March 14, 1878.Notes to Old Problems and New Ideas, 1883-19051 With Professor Solomon Woolf on this committee were Sullivan, C. J. Lawrence, Betts,Parish, and Hewitt.

2 Letter from A. Louden Snowden to William Poillon, January 21, 1884.8 Letter from Woolf to Poillon, January 25, 1884.4 Woolf's poor health forced him to request that his resignation from the chairmanship beaccepted. Letters from Woolf to Poillon, February 15, 1884; March 21, 1884; April 5, 1884.s Letter from Hewitt to Poillon, April 26, 1884.6 Letter from Hewitt to Poillon, May 10, 1884.7 Letters from Hewitt to Low, May 14, 1884; Poillon to Hewitt, May 12, 1884; Hewitt toLow, May 14, 1884; and Hewitt to Low, June 9, 1884.8 Letter from Low to Wood, April 17, 1885.9 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society with anHistorical Sketch (New York, 1915), pp. 24-5.10 See New York Times, January 19, 1884.11 New York Tribune, April 6, 1884; New York Evening Post, April 7, 1884; New York Tribune,April 17, 1884; New York Mail and Express, May 8, 1884; New York Evening Post, May 9, 1884.12 Letters from C. H. Banes to the Society, May 13, 1884; from G. H. Banes to WilliamPoillon, July 22, 1884; from William Poillon to Charles H. Banes, August 5, 1884; fromCharles H. Banes to William Poillon, August 27, 1884; and from C. H. Banes to William PoillonAugust 30, 1884.18 See the report of the Committee in Proceedings (March 17, 1885), p. 7.11 See Proceedings (March 16, 1886), pp. 31-56. This contains abstracts concerning thefirst ten informal meetings.

Â» Proceedings (March 15, 1887), p. 7.18 New York Times (April 10, 1885). Also see the published version of the talk delivered byZabriskie in Numisma, IX, Nos. 3, 4, and 5 (May, July, and Sept. 1885). See also New York Times (Dec. 3, 1891, and Jan. 29, 1892).



328 NOTES to Old Problems and New Ideas"Proceedings (March 20, 1893), p. 7.18 Proceedings (March 20, 1893), pp. 15-16.19 Proceedings (March 20, 1893), pp. 7-8.20 Proceedings (March 17, 1885), p. 10.21 Letter from John H. Boynton to the Society, February 28, 1885. Also see the circular issued by the Bureau of Information as to Legacies and Bequests, November 1864, in the ar-chives of the Society.22 See the undated letter from J. H. Boynton to William Poillon.

23 Letters from Richard H. Lawrence to Poillon, March 3, 1885; from William Poillon toJohn H. Boynton, March 5, 1885; from Benjamin Betts to Richard H. Lawrence, March 14,1885; from R. H. Smith to Richard H. Lawrence, March 18, 1885; from Benjamin Betts toWilliam Poillon, March 23, 1885.M Letters from William Poillon to Horatio C. Harrower, March 26, 1885; T. W. Foster,attorney for the executor, to the Society March 27, 1885; Tallmadge W. Foster, attorney atlaw, to William Poillon, April 14, 1885; William Poillon to T. W. Foster, April 14, 1885; Ben-jamin Betts to William Poillon, April 16, 1885; William Poillon to Benjamin Betts, April 27,1885. Also see the Curator's Report in Proceedings (March 16, 1886), p. 11.25 Report of the Curator of Archaeology in Proceedings (March 21, 1892), pp. 11-12.

26 This resolution was actually passed at the request of the Grolier Club. See letters fromArthur B. Turnure, Chairman of the House Committee of the Grolier Club to the Society,February 24, 1888; H. Russell Drowne to Arthur B. Turnure, March 21, 1888; and Proceedings(March 1888-1892), p. 15, for the record of the passage of this resolution."Proceedings (March 19, 1889), pp. 7-8.28 These new appointments were made by Andrew C. Zabriskie as First Vice-Presidentduring the absence of President Parish who was ill at the time. Ibid., p. 17.29 This episode was omitted from the published record of the Proceedings of the Thirty-thirdAnnual Meeting (March 16, 1891).30 Letter from H. Russell Drowne to Mrs. Graham, March 17, 1891.81 Letter from H. Russell Drowne to Mrs. Graham, April 27, 1891.32 This letter has been preserved in the archives of the Society.88 Letter from H. Russell Drowne to Mrs. Graham, May 4, 1891.34 Letter from H. Russell Drowne to Eliza Graham, May 18, 1891.38 Proceedings (March 16, 1891), pp. 11-12.38 See letters from John Jay Knox to Daniel Parish, Jr., May 13, 1891; J. A. Bolen toCharles Pryer, May 14, 1891; R. W. McLachlin to Daniel Parish, Jr., May 14, 1891; WilliamLee to the Society, May 16, 1891; S. R. Koehler to the Society, May 16, 1891; Isaac J. Green-wood to Daniel Parish, Jr., May 18, 1891. In the following year Greenwood contributed$25.00. See also letters from Hyman Ely, May 14, 1891; H. C. Ezekiel, May 14, 1891; GeorgeT. Paine, May 14, 1891; Charles B. Perry, May 16, 1891; George W. Massamore, May 21,

1891; John Bowne, May 23, 1891.87 Report of the Building Fund Committee, November 16, 1891, preserved in the archivesof the Society.38 See Proceedings (March 21, 1892), pp. 5-6.39 Letter from James Grant Wilson of the New York Genealogical and BiographicalSociety to Henry R. Drowne. This letter is preserved in the minutes for May 18, 1891. Theproposal was referred to the Building Fund Committee.40 Letter from Daniel Parish, Jr., to Henry Russell Drowne, February 17, 1892.



NOTES to Old Problems and New Ideas 32941 This description can be found in the remarks of Andrew C. Zabriskie at the special meet-ing.42 Letters from Everett H. Herrick, Chairman of the House Committee of the Academy of Medicine to Henry Russell Drowne, undated; from Daniel Parish, Jr., to Henry RussellDrowne, March 7, 1892; H. O. Havemeyer to Henry Russell Drowne, May 17, 1892; Bau-man L. Belden to Henry Russell Drowne, May 20, 1892.43 Not the least interesting of these proposals was one from the Drawing-Room Club to theeffect that the Society should take rooms in a house which that Club intended to buy. See

letter from Drawing-Room Club to H. R. Drowne, May 23, 1892.44 Letter from H. Carrington Bolton of the University Club on behalf of the Alliance of N.Y.Scientific Societies to H. R. Drowne, November 16, 1892.45 Letter from Daniel Parish, Jr. to H. Russell Drowne, November 9, 1892.46 Letter from Richard H. Greene to the Society, January 5, 1895.47 Letter from R. H. Greene to Bauman L. Belden, January 30, 1897.48 Dr. Storer, a member of the Society, apparently complained about the hesitation on thepart of the attendants at the Academy of Medicine with respect to letting him enter. This isrecorded in the Executive Committee minutes for April 5, 1900.49 There is a great deal of detail contained in the correspondence for this period regardingthe attitude of the various officers as to the motives of the Academy of Medicine in requesting

the move. Zabriskie suggested that when the public authorities learned that the Society waspaying rent to the Academy they wished to revoke the tax exempt status of that organization.The ostensible reason given for the move was the need for more library space for the Academyof Medicine. See letters from Andrew Zabriskie to Bauman L. Belden, July 20, 1901; from Dr.Reginald H. Sayre to Andrew C. Zabriskie, July 12, 1901; from Andrew C. Zabriskie to Bau-man L. Belden, July 31, 1901; from Dr. Reginald H. Sayre to Andrew C. Zabriskie, July 26,1901.60 Letter from Dr. Reginald H. Sayre to Henry Russell Drowne, April 2, 1902.61 Letter from Andrew C. Zabriskie to Bauman L. Belden, April 9, 1902.52 Proceedings (January 19, 1903), pp. 14-15.63 Ibid., p. 9.

M See Proceedings (March 21, 1898), p. 17. Cf. Zabriskie's Presidential Address in Proceedings(March 20, 1899), p. 18. By 1904, Zabriskie had confused the dates of these two speeches. Seehis Presidential Address in Proceedings (January 18, 1904), pp. 20-21.66 Proceedings (January 19, 1903), p. 14. This was part of the Presidential Address.56 Ibid., pp. 17-18.67 Proceedings (January 18, 1904), p. 16.58 Ibid., p. 16.69 R. W. G. Vail, Knickerbocker Birthday. A Sesqui-Centennial History of The Mew-York HistoricalSociety, 1804-1954 (New York: New York Historical Society, 1954).60 Proceedings (January 18, 1904), pp. 20-21.61 Ibid., p. 21, gives a full account of the proceedings at this meeting.62 The passage of the amendment regarding the Vice Presidency is recorded in Proceedings(March 18, 1884), pp. 5-6. Mr. Walter's amendment was passed in 1887. Proceedings (March 15,1887), pp. 15-16.63 Proceedings (March 20, 1893), pp. 15-16.64 Constitution and By-Laws of The American Numismatic and Archaeological Society with ProposedRevision to be Acted Upon March 19th, 1894; Proceedings (March 19, 1894), p. 10; Proceedings



33O NOTES to Old Problems and New Ideas(March 18, 1895), pp. 38-39; Articles of Incorporation and Constitution and By-Laws of the AmericnaNumismatic and Archaeological Society (New York, 1896); Amendments to Constitution and By-Lawsof the American Numismati c and Archaeological Society adopted Nov. 20, 1899; March 19, 1900; March18, 1901 (New York, 1901).â€¢* Letter from Parish to Drowne, March 8, 1899.60 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society with anHistorical Sketch (New York, 1915), pp. 26-27 describes the piece. An impression in gold wasgiven to Parish and bronze copies were distributed to the subscribers. Also see the New York Times (June 15, 1890).67 Proceedings (March 17, 1890), p. 11.88 Letter in the archives of the Society."* For a fuller account of the incident regarding the World's Fair and the decision to holdan exhibition in this city see the New York Herald (April 23, 1893).70 American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of New York Columbian Exhibition of Coins andMedals at the Rooms of the Society in the Building of the Academy of Medicine, April 25th, 1893. Also seeNew York Times (April 1, 1893); New YorkSun (April26,1893);New York World (April26,1893).71 This report is extant in the archives of the Society, but it was never recorded in theProceedings.7> For short biographies of Kunz see DAB, XXI, p. 476; National Cyclopedia of AmericanBiography, IV, p. 433; and the many volumes of Who's Who in New York and Who's Who in

America issued during his lifetime. An obituary notice was published in The Numismatist, XLV(1932), p. 516.78 Letter from H. Russell Drowne to George F. Kunz, January 18, 1894.74 Proceedings (March 20, 1893), p. 8.7t New York Tribune (Jan. 24, 1894); New York Herald (Jan. 21, 1894); New York Times(Jan. 21. 1894).76 A copy of this resolution is extant in the archives.77 Letter from F. Wellington Ruckstuhl, Secretary of the National Sculpture Society toH. Russell Drowne, February 2, 1894.78 See the letter from George Heath, publisher of The Numismatist, March 10, 1894, in thearchives of the Society.

78 Letter from George F. Kunz to H. Russell Drowne, February 15, 1894. Abo see NewYork Times (August 22, 1894).80 See the full report of the Committee on New Coinage Design published in the Proceedings(March 16, 1896), pp. 45-8.81 Proceedings (March 15, 1897), pp. 7-9.88 On this medal designed by Victor D. Brenner see Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publi-cations of the American Numismatic Society with an Historical Sketch (New York, 1915), pp. 30-31.A description of the presentation ceremonies and of the events surrounding the issuance of thismedal is to be found in the List of Meetings Held and Papers Read before the Society published inProceedings (March 15, 1897), p. 46.83 Report of the Grant Monument Medal Committee in Proceedings (March 21, 1898), p. 7.Among the papers published by the Society there is one entitled "History of the Grant Mon-ument Medal." Proceedings (March 21, 1898), pp. 52-63. The letters of acceptance from theforeign potentates are published in the Proceedings (March 20, 1899), pp. 59-67. Also seethe Chicago Herald (April 24, 1897); New York Times (April 24, 1897); and the earlier articlein thet New York Tribune (April 5, 1897).



NOTES to Old Problems and New Ideas 33184 Proceedings (March 20, 1899), p. 6. Also see Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publicationsof the American Numismatic Society, pp. 34-35.86 Letters from William Rhinelander Stewart to Andrew C. Zabriskie, June 1, 1898;June 27, 1898; and February 27, 1899. The Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities andCorrection at the 25th Session pp. lii-liv, give an account of the medal. See New York Tribune(March 22, 1898), and New York Times (May 8, 1898).88 Proceedings (March 20, 1898), pp. 6-8. After the death of Andrew H. Green on November 13, 1903, the Society passed a resolution stating that "The recent news of the sad death of the

Hon. Andrew H. Green by assasination has been a great shock to the community, and whilehe was not a member of our Society, it is the desire of its members to express their deep sorrowat his loss and their high respect of him as a fellow citizen." Proceedings (January 18, 1904), p. 22.87 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of the American Numismatic Society, pp. 38-39;The New York Daily Tribune (March 8, 1902); New York Herald (May 21, 1902). See the letter of acceptance of Prince Henry in Proceedings (January 19, 1903), p. 10. It is interesting to notethat the Society made a profit of $167.36 on the production of this piece.88 The letters from the American Embassy about the King of Italy were published in Pro-ceedings (March 18, 1901), pp. 71-72, and Proceedings (January 19, 1903), p. 10.89 Proceedings (March 18, 1901), p. 15.80 Proceedings (January 20, 1902), pp. 17-18.

81 "Report of the Committee on Medals," Proceedings (January 19, 1903), pp. 8-9.92 Proceedings (January 18, 1904), pp. 8-15. Also see Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publi-cations of the American Numismatic Society, pp. 40-41.83 Proceedings (March 21, 1898), p. 15.84 Proceedings (March 20, 1899), pp. 17-18.95 Proceedings (March 19, 1900), pp. 18-20.94 Letter from Zabriskie to Belden, March 22, 1900. This Committee was appointed after the Annual Meeting even though the names are recorded in the Proceedings. Woodbury G.Langdon was a successful New York dry goods merchant. Short statements about him can befound in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, II, p. 153; ed. Lyman Horace Weeks,Prominent Families of New York (New York, 1896), p. 350; Who's Who in New York, 1907, p. 810;

Leslie's History of Greater New York (New York, n.d.), I, pp. 383-5; ed. Moses King, NotableNew Yorkers of 1896-1899 (New York and Boston, 1898), p. 488.97 Letters from Henry Davis of the Academy of Design to the Society, July 12, 1900; fromZabriskie to Belden, July 18, 1900; from Belden to Henry Davis, July 20, 1900; from Zabriskieto Belden, August 16, 1900. New York Times (December 16, 1900).68 L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin-, Gem-, and Seal-Engravers, and Mint-Masters &c. Ancient and Modem with References to their Works B.C 500-A.o. 1900 (London, 1904),IV, p. 536.98 Proceedings (March 18, 1901), pp. 8-9.100 Yhe pr;zes for the preceding year were won by Mary St. John Harper and by AdolphWolff. On Victor D. Brenner see L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, I, pp. 277-279;"Plaques and Medallions by Victor D. Brenner," The Survey, XXXV, No. 1 (October 2,1915); Victor D. Brenner, The Art of the Medal (New York, 1910); Victor D. Brenner, "Brief Sketch of the Progress in the United States of Medallic Art," Proces-Verbaux et mimoires duCongris 1nternationale de numismatique et d'art de la mldaille contemporaines (Bruxelles, 1910), pp.549-553. Also printed in The Numismatist, XXIII (1910), pp. 265-266; "Victor D. Brenner,"The Numismatist, XXII (1909). pp. 69-70; and his obituary notice in The Numismatist, XXXVII



332 NOTES to Old Problems and New Ideas(1924), p. 372. A description of the school under Brenner's tutelage may be found in TheJeweler's Circular-Weekly (November 27, 1901).101 Proceedings (January 12, 1902), p. 7.102 On the effect of the resignation of Victor D. Brenner see Proceedings (January 18,1904),p. 7.103 The Woodbury G. Langdon prizes were awarded to three pupils. Mary Palmer Harper won the first prize of $60; Adele A. Pollack won the second prize of $25; and JennieV. Cannon won the third prize of $15. Idem.

104 Letter from Woodbury G. Langdon to Bauman L. Belden, May 13, 1905, in the minutesfor the meeting of May 15th.105 On Kunz see note 72; on Brenner see note 100. For short accounts of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the American Sculptor, see L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, V, p. 298.and DAB XVI, pp. 296-302. J. Sanford Saltus must remain a rather enigmatic figure whodied under strange circumstances in London in 1922. His interest in medals has been perpetu-ated at the Society in the Saltus award which is given annually to the best medallist. See hisobituary in The Numismatist, XXXV (1922), p. 378.106 On this issue Drowne, Pryer, Valentine, Pehrson, and Belden voted affirmatively whileParish, Dodd, and Wilson did so negatively.

107 Proceedings (March 19, 1900), p. 5. Also see the report of the Committee on the ParisExposition in the same issue of the Proceedings, pp. 8-10. This report contains a completedescription of the exhibit. Other descriptions and discussions of the exhibit are to be found inthe New York Herald (Dec. 10, 1899); New York Times (March 1, 1900); New York TribuneIllustrated Supplement (March 4, 1900); The Jeweler's Circular (April 4, 1900).108 At the meeting of November 19, 1900, it was reported that "official notice" had beenreceived of the award of a gold medal to the Society which could be obtained at a cost of 600 francs (about $120). The money was voted for the purchase of this piece, but there is norecord of its existence save the "Report of the Committee on the Paris Exposition," Proceedings(March 18, 1901), pp. 7-8. Two letters from B. D. Woodward of the United States Commis-sion to the Paris Exposition of 1900 mention a diploma award in Class 3 and a bronze medalwhich was granted free of charge. Letters from B. D. Woodward to the Society, May 20, 1902,and May 31, 1902. In the Society's trays, however, there are two identical medals save thatone is in silver and the other in bronze.109 A copy of a separate resolution for Victor D. Brenner was published in Proceedings (March18, 1901), p. 9.110 Ibid., pp. 19-20. Belden, Kunz, and Saltus were appointed.111 On Parish Hackley Barhydt see Proceedings (March 21, 1898), p. 13. The money wasdonated in the following year and apparently resulted in a series of resolutions passed at theExecutive Committee meeting on February 9, 1899, specifying what use should be made of thevarious funds held by the Society.

112 On the gift of the collection see "American Numismatic Society," The Numismatist,XXXI (1918), p. 14; Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of the American NumismaticSociety, p. 14; Proceedings (March 18, 1901), p. 12. On the presentation of the loving cup seethe short address by Henry Russell Drowne, "Presentation of Loving Cup to Mr. EdwardGroh," Proceedings (March 18, 1901), pp. 39-40. Groh's obituary appeared in The Numismatist,XVIII (1905), p. 29; and Proceedings (January 16, 1905), pp. 13-14. Also see George Hetrick,Civil War Tokens and Tradesmen's Store Cards (New York, 1924). Groh's death was also comme-morated by a memorial page in the Proceedings of 1905.



NOTES to A New Home and a New Life 333118 Archer M. Huntington's letter of acceptance, January 27, 1899, is still extant.114 John Kirkland Wright, Geography in the Making. The American Geographical Society, 1851-1951 (New York, 1952), passim. Huntington, of course, was the founder of the HispanicSociety of America, and it remained throughout his life his most consuming interest. A Historyof The Hispanic Society of America. Museum and Library, 1904-1954 (New York, 1954), passim.116 Alfred Bloor, who was Recording Secretary at this time, was also connected with thisscheme for a merger. He also resigned his position.Notes to A New Home and a New Life, 1905-1915

1 During the period covered in this chapter there was even an attempt made to catalogueand file the preserved correspondence of the Society. This was suggested in 1908, but there isno evidence that anything material was accomplished before a much later period. Letter fromPryer to Belden, July 10, 1908. Perhaps the success of the Society in acquiring a home of itsown served as the stimulus.2 Letter from Newell to the Society, January 20, 1905.3 Letter from Edward T. Newell to Bauman L. Belden, March 3, 1905.* There are numerous notices regarding Mr. Newell and his career, Who's Who In America,XVI (1930-31), p. 1649; The Numismatist, LIV, No. 4 (April 1941), p. 267; The Coin Collector'sJournal, VIII, No 4 (April 1941), p. 50.6 Proceedings (January 16, 1905), pp. 15-16.

* Letters from William R. Weeks to Bauman L. Belden, December 14,1905 and December 15,1905. Also see Articles of Incorporation and Constitution and By-Laws of the American Numismatic andArchaeological Society (New York, 1896), Ch. V, Sect. I (page 14).7 Proceedings (January 15, 1906), p. 24.8 Due notice of the prospective move was given in the Executive Committee report at theForty-Eigth Annual Meeting. Proceedings (January 15, 1906), p. 8.* Letter from H. Russell Drowne to the Union Dime Savings Bank, February 9, 1906.10 Letter from Mansfield L. Hillhouse, Secretary of the Hispanic Society, to the AmericanNumismatic Society, July 12, 1907. A motion expressing the appreciation of the AmericanNumismatic Society was appropriately phrased and passed.11 New York Times (January 17, 1906); New York World (January 17, 1906); New York

Herald (January 11, 1906); New York Evening Telegram (June 22, 1906); New York Evening Post(July 28, 1906); New York Evening Post (August 11, 1906); American Art News (August 17, 1907);New York Herald (September 4, 1907). Of course a copy of the design was printed in the Pro-ceedings of 1906. It also appeared in a small pamphlet, Suggested Plan for a building for the Numis-matic and Archaeological Society (New York: The de Vinne Press, 1906).12 Proceedings (January 15, 1906), p. 23. The motions to this effect were proposed by Belden.18 Ibid., p. 22.14 Fryer's letter to Belden, May 27, 1906, may be taken as indicating the stature in thebusiness world of the members of that committee.16 See the published report of the Building Committee which consisted of Archer M.Huntington, Edward D. Adams, Bauman L. Belden, Alfred J. Bloor, Robert Hewitt, Mans-field L. Hillhouse, William Poillon, Charles Pryer, and J. Otis Woodward. Proceedings (January21, 1907), pp. 22-24.



334 NOTES to A New Home and a New Life"New York Times (December 8, 1907).17 Proceedings (January 20, 1908), p. 20.18 Ibid., p. 8.19 A short account of the history of the Society appeared in the Home Topics of WashingtonHeights (April 11, 1908) to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Society.80 New York Evening Post (May 13, 1908).21 The New York Sun (April 16, 1911) contained a full page devoted to a description and pic-tures of the institutions bordering on Audubon Terrace. The New York Press (December 4,

1908) contained a long article describing the building as the only one in the world devotedsolely to coins and random notes on the history of coinage.M Proceedings (January 20, 1908), p. 14.28 Letter from Thomas L. Elder to Bauman L. Belden, September 17, 1907. Elder says "Ithink it an outrage that the President's letter and request should have been thus far ignored.We cannot afford to snub the President of the United States."24 Letter from Thomas L. Elder to President Huntington, January 6, 1908. In that letter Elder says:On December 20th 1907, a special meeting of the above named Society was held intheir rooms, the purpose of the meeting being to discuss and present resolutions in the

matter of the efforts to improve the appearance of our current coinage. Three drafts of resolutions were presented by the Committee, consisting of Messrs. Brand, Leon andHolmes, After a full discussion the following resolutions were adopted.WHEREAS, the commendable efforts of President Theodore Roosevelt to improve theartistic appearance of our coinage have brought about the adoption of new designs of theten and twenty dollar gold pieces.WHEREAS, the new designs have been severely and unfavorably criticised by the peopleand in the public press, therefore be itRESOLVED by the Chicago Numismatic Society, that, in the opinion of its members,such unfavorable criticism is, for the most part, unwarranted and not well considered; thatcoins constitute the best medium by means of which progress in medallic art can be illus-trated to all the people, and that therefore the great progress which has been made in thisart since the designs heretofore in use were first adopted, should receive recognition onour coins; that the new designs, with the exception of the obverse on the ten dollar piece,are improvements artistically, over those which they displace; that the reverse designsof both pieces might be further improved; that the obverse of the twenty dollar piece isthe most beautiful design which has ever appeared on any authorized coin of our country;and be it further RESOLVED, that the President be heartily commended for his labors in connection withthe improvement of the artistic appearance of our coinage, and respectfully urged tocontinue his efforts until all of our coins are impressed with designs exemplifying the

highest and best type of modern and medallic art.A motion was carried, instructing the Secretary to spread the resolution on the minutesand to have a copy engrossed and forwarded to President Roosevelt.25 This entire record was not published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of 1908,but it is contained in the minutes.28 Proceedings (January 20, 1908), p. 22."R. S. Yeoman, A Guidebook of United States Coins, 1952-53 (Racine, Wisconsin: WhitmanPublishing Company, 1951), p. 82.



NOTES to A New Home aud a New Life 33528 New York Times (Dec. 11, 1914); Providence Bulletin (Dec. 11, 1914); Springfield Union (Dec.11, 1914); New York Post (Dec. 12, 1914); Boston Evening Transcript (Dec. 12, 1914); New York Evening Post (Dec. 12, 1914); Boston Globe (Dec. 13, 1914); Pittsburgh Dispatch (Dec. 14, 1914);Cleveland Plain Dealer (Dec. 14, 1914); Washington, D. C. Evening Star (Dec. 15, 1914); Letter to the editor in New York Sun (Dec. 27, 1914); Boston Evening Transcript (Dec. 19, 1914);Christian Science Monitor(Dec. 21,1914); American Art News (Jan. 23, 1915); Leslie's Weekly (Feb.25, 1915); New York Evening Telegram (Mar. 3, 1915); Wichita Eagle (Mar. 5, 1915); BaltimoreStar (Mar. 12, 1915); Cleveland Leader (Oct. 31, 1915).

29 Proceedings (January 21, 1907), pp. 27-28.30 On S. Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., see Who's Who in New York, 4th ed. (1909), p. 428.31 Letter from S. Whitney Dunscomb, Jr. to Bauman L. Belden, February 4, 1907.32 Preceedings (January 17, 1910), p. 17.33 Letter from Henry Russell Drowne to Bauman L. Belden, January 19, 1909.34 In 1914 Agnes Baldwin married George Munroe Brett, a teacher at the City College.In the latter years of her life Mrs. Brett published the catalogue of the ancient Greek numis-matic collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. On Mrs. Brett see Who's Who in America,XXIII (1943-44), p. 231. There were many obituary notices on the occasion of her death.See New York Times (Dec. 27, 1955); The Numismatist, LXIX, No. 2 (February 1956), p. 166;

Numismatic Circular, LXIV, No. 4 (April 1956), col. 163; Numismatisches Nachrichtenblatt, V,No. 5 (May 1956), p. 75; Schweizer Miinzblatter, VI.No. 22 (July 1956), p. 43; Mitteilungen der Osterreichischen Numismatischen Gesellschqft, IX, No. 10 (1956), pp. 86-87.35 Letters from Low to Huntington, February 8, 1909, and from Huntington to Belden,February 9, 1909.38 Letter from Bauman L. Belden to Adams, April 25, 1912.37 The offices of Honorary Curator and Honorary Librarian had been created by the Boardof Governors after the Annual Meeting of 1910. They were established for one year, but in 1911no appointments to these offices were made and so they simply went out of existence. Letter fromBauman L. Belden to Henry R. Drowne, March 7, 1911. In the published Proceedings of 1911,A. H. Cooper-Prichard is listed as Librarian. He had become a member only a month earlier.38 Letter from Weeks to Noe, June 11, 1919. This correspondence began on June 3, 1919,with an inquiry from Sydney P. Noe about a copy of the Revue beige de numismatique. Weeksresponded in a letter dated June 5, 1919 and so the correspondence continued with severalletters passing between these two men during the month. On October 29, 1919, William R.Weeks died, but his death was merely noted in the Secretary's report for that year. Proceedings(January 10, 1920), p. 7; also see New York Herald (Oct. 30, 1919); New Yok Times (Oct. 31,1919). It does seem odd that at the passing of such an important figure in the history of theSociety no particular notice should be taken and also that the obituary notices do not mentionthe fact of his having been a member of the Society. No obituary appeared in the numismaticjournals of the period.

39 Letters from Drowne to Belden, March 10, 1912, and from Belden to Drowne, March 13,1912.40 The American Numismatic Society Constitution and By-Laws (New York, 1910), Art. V.Â« On Rowland Wood see Who's Who in America, XVIII (1934-35), p. 2579.42 Letters from Belden to Wood, December 12, 1912; from Wood to Belden, January 22,1913; from Belden to Wood, January 27, 1913; from Wood to Belden, January 29, 1913.43 Letters from Wood to Belden, January 29, 1913; from Belden to Wood, February 4, 1913;from Wood to Belden, February 7, 1913.



336 NOTES to A New Home and a New Life44 Letter from Belden to Newell, April 28, 1916.45 Letter from Huntington to Belden, October 12, 1905. In that letter Huntington quotesa letter to him from Barr Ferree of the Pennsylvania Society, September 20, 1905.46 Letter from Poillon to Belden, October 28, 1905.47 Letter from Belden to Wood, May 24, 1910."New York Herald (Aug. 15, 1909); New York Sun (Sept. 2, 1910); Banker and Investor (Phila-delphia, July 1910); New York Herald (Aug. 28, 1910) and (Sept. 6, 1910); New York Sun (Sept. 6,1910). Also see The Elder Magazine, I, No. 9 (Sept. 1910), which contains photographs of the

convention. The Year Book of the American Numismatic Association for 1910 contains a full descrip-tion of the meeting."Letters from Belden to E. H. Adams, February 3, 1913, and from Edgar H. Adams toBauman L. Belden, February 5, 1913.60 Proch-Verbaux et Memoires du Congres International de Numismatique et d'Art de la MidailleContcmporaine (Bruxelles, 1910)."New York Press (Mar. 10, 1910); New York Herald (Mar. 10, 1910); New York Times (Mar.10, 1910); Newark Evening News (Mar. 19, 1910); New York Evening Post (Mar. 12, 1910);Letter from A. Piatt Andrew, Director of the U.S. Mint in Washington, D. C., dated March20, 1910, printed in the New York Evening Post (Mar. 29, 1910), comments on the medals of thedifferent countries. Another letter, dated March 30, 1910, appeared in the same newspaper

(April 1, 1910). The Magazine Section of the New York Herald (April 10,1910), had a longarticle with many illustrations relating to the International Medallic Exhibition. FinallyA. Piatt Andrew published an appreciation of the exhibition in his article entitled "An Inter-national Medallic Exhibition," American Review of Reviews (May 1910), pp. 561-567.62 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society with anHistorical Sketch (New York, 1915), pp. 62-63, contains a description and a photograph of thispiece.63 Letters from Drowne to Belden, August 2, 1910, and from Belden to Drowne, August 3,1910.64 Agnes Baldwin, Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals (New andrev. ed.: New York, 1911).

"Proceedings (January 21, 1911), p. 14."New York American (February 12, 1911).57 Catalogue of Sculpture by Prince Paul Troubetzkoy Exhibited by The American NumismaticSociety at the Hispanic Society of America. February 12, to March 12,1911 (New York, 1911).68 New York Herald (February 18, 1912)."See the letter from Belden to Adams, October 29, 1912 and the enclosed notices.00 L'Art de la Midaille et de la Plaquette Modernes de Gi. Cariati, Series 1, 2, and 3. Also seeL'Arte della Medaglia e delta Placchetta di Gi. Cariati "GICAR," Esposizione Italiana, 1909, CatalogoRelazione di V. Rossi-Sacchetti cm due Ritratti (Parigi, 1909)."Letter from Edward D. Adams to Bauman L. Belden, October 30, 1912.*2 Catalogue of Medals, Plaques and Drawings by Signor Giovanni Cariati exhibited by the AmericanNumismatic Society, December llth to 21st, 1912 (New York, 1912).63 New York Globe (Dec. 20, 1912), and L'Araldo Italiano (March 16, 1913).M Joan of Arc Loan Exhibition Catalogue. Paintings, Pictures, Medals, Coins, Statuary, Books,Porcelains, Manuscripts, Curios, etc. Under the Auspices of The Joan of Arc Statue Committee, (For aStatue of Joan of Arc in the City of New York). The Museum of French Art, French Institute in theUnited States, The American Numismatic Society. January 6th to February 8th, 1913 (New York 1913).



NOTES to A New Home and a New Life 33768 New York Herald (Jan. 31, 1912). Other gifts are also mentioned."New York Herald (Dec. 31, 1912); New York Times (Jan. 5, 1913); New York Evening Sun(Jan. 6, 1913); New York Press (Jan. 7, 1913) (two articles); New York Herald (Jan. 7, 1913)(two articles); New York Times (Jan. 7, 1913); New York Evening Post (Jan. 7, 1913); New York Sun (Jan. 7, 1913); Brooklyn Life (Jan. 11, 1913); New York Evening Post (Jan. 18, 1913); Brook-lyn Daily Eagle (Jan. 19, 1913); New York Sun (Jan. 19, 1913); New York Evening Sun (Jan. 31,1913); also see a letter to the editor of the New York Times, dated January 31, 1913, requestingthat the exhibition be prolonged; The New York Freeman's Journal (Feb. 1, 1913).

67 New York Evening Post (January 18, 1913).68 Before the statue could actually be erected there was a dispute between Le Lyceum, asociety of Frenchwomen in the United States, and the Joan of Arc Statue Committee as towhich group would have the honor of donating the statue to the City. At one point it evenseemed probable that there would be two statues, but happily the Joan of Arc Statue Commit-tee avoided that eventuality by raising its funds much earlier. For the entire story of this statuesee the local press reports. New York Herald (Dec. 31, 1912); New York Tribune (Jan. 7, 1913);The Auctioneer (Oct. 6, 1913); New York Herald (June 21, 1914); New York Evening Post (Oct. 10,1914); New York Sunday Herald (Oct. 25, 1914); New York Evening Post (Dec. 4, 1915); New York American (Dec. 13, 1915).88 Medal Commemorating the Dedication of Joan of Arc Park. New York (A circular).

70 The American Numismatic Society. Exhibition of United States and Colonial Coins, January Seven-teenth to February Eigtheenth 1914. Catalogue (New York 1914).71 New York Times (Jan. 27, 1914); New York Evening Sun (Jan. 29, 1914); Boston Transcript(Jan. 31, 1914); Philadelphia Record (Feb. 1, 1914); New York World (Feb. 1, 1914); New York Independent (Feb. 2, 1914); Philadelphia Star (Feb. 6, 1914); Springfield, Mass. Republican (Feb. 8,1914); New York Independent (Feb. 9, 1914); Cumberland, Md. Times (Feb. 20, 1914); ChristianScience Monitor (April 18, 1914); Galveston News (Dec. 27, 1914).72 This exhibition was described in many newspapers across the country. New York EveningSun (Mar. 26, 1914); New York Evening Post (Mar. 28, 1914); Christian Science Monitor (April 1,1914); New York World (April 19, 1914); Brooklyn Daily Eagle (April 26, 1914); Seattle Times(May 2, 1914); Springfield, Mass. Republican (May 6, 1914); Jersey City Journal (May 8, 1914);

Indianapolis Star (May 21, 1914); Cleveland Plain Dealer (Aug. 7, 1914); Columbus, Ohio, Dis-,patch (Aug. 22, 1914); Dayton, Ohio, Journal (Aug. 30, 1914); The Philadelphia West, LXIIINo. 2 (Aug. 31, 1914).n New York World (April 26, 1914); Christian Science Monitor (April 29, 1914); New York Tribune (May 3, 1914); New York Evening Post (May 5, 1914).74 New York Evening Mail (June 4, 1915); New York World (June 7, 1915); New York Herald(June 6, 1915); Newark Evening News (June 5, 1915); Christian Science Monitor (June 10, 1915);Boston Journal (June 15, 1915).75 New York American (April 3, 1915); New York Evening Post (April 3, 1915); The Jeweler'sCircular (April 7, 1915), p. 53.76 The newspapers throughout the country were filled with the story of Huntington's arreston August 8th and 9th. New York Evening Telegram; New Orleans States; Lansing, Mich. Journal;New York Evening Sun; Little Rock, Ark. Democrat; Danville, III. Commercial News; Beaumont, Tex.Journal; Providence Bulletin, all broke the story on August 8th. The Baltimore Sun; Galveston News;Boston Sunday American; New Orleans Times-Picayune; Philadelphia Inquirer; Philadelphia Press;New York World; Philadelphia North American; Muncie, Ind. Star; and Topeka, Kan. Capital, brokethe story on the 9th. Continuations of the coverage until the release of the Huntingtons appear 22



338 NOTES to A New Home and a New Lifein the New York Evening Sun (Aug. 10, 1914); Washington, D. C. Times (Aug. 10, 1914); NewYork Herald (Aug. 10, 1914); Philadelphia Ledger (Aug. 11, 1914); New York Telegram (Aug. 15,1914); New York Telegram (Aug. 24, 1914)."Newark Evening News (Sept. 23, 1914); New York Staats-êitung (Sept. 24, 1914) (Germanlanguage press); Boston Transcript (Sept. 24, 1914); New York Press (Sept. 24, 1914); BrooklynDaily Eagle (Sept. 27, 1914); New York World (Sept. 27, 1914); The Auctioneer (Sept. 29, 1914);New York Tribune (Oct. 4, 1914); Providence journal (Oct. 4, 1914); New York Globe (Nov. 6,1914); New York World (Nov. 4, 1914); JVÂ«0 York Evening Staats-êitung (Nov. 4, 1914); Brook-

lyn Eagle (Nov. 6, 1914); New York Sun (Nov. 6, 1914); New York Evening Post (Nov. 6, 1914);New York Mail (Nov. 9, 1914); New York Evening Sun (Nov. 10, 1914); New York Evening Sun(Nov. 11, 1914) (a lengthy article on the exhibit of coins and medals of the warring nations);Philadelphia Bulletin (Feb. 4, 1915); New York Press (April 4, 1915); New York Sun (April 5,1915); New York Evening Globe (April 6, 1915); Newark Evening News (April 7, 1915); New York Evening World (July 28, 1915).78 On this medal see Proceedings (January 21, 1907), pp. 19-20, and Bauman L. Belden,Medals and Publications of the American Numismatic Society with an Historical Sketch (New York,1915), pp. 42-43.79 Letter from Victor D. Brenner to the Society, January 21, 1907.80 On this medal see the Report of the Committee on the Publication of Medals at the

Fiftieth Annual Meeting. Proceedings (January 20, 1908), pp. 15-18, and Bauman L. Belden,Medals and Publications of the American Numismatic Society, pp. 44-45.81 Proceedings (January 20, 1908), p. 17, and Belden, op. cit., pp. 48-49.88 Letter from Bauman L. Belden to Edward D. Adams, May 14, 1908; also see Proceedings(January 18, 1909), p. 12.83 Letter and accompanying sketches from Victor D. Brenner to Bauman L. Belden, Febru-ary 14, 1908. Apparently the idea for such a model originated before the Fiftieth AnniversaryMeeting.84 Letter from Adams to Belden, April 23, 1908.86 Letter from Belden to Adams, April 28, 1908.86 Letter from Edward D. Adams to Belden, May 12, 1908.

87 Cf. Belden's letter to Brenner, May 14, 1908. Adams to Belden, June 1, 1908, quotesfrom the letter from Brenner.88 Letter from Adams to Belden, June 1, 1908.88 Cf. L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin-Gem-, and Seal-Engravers, and Mint-Masters &c. Ancient and Modem with References to their Works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900 (London, 1904),II, pp. 166-167. Fuchs had also prepared the portrait of Edward VII for the postage stampsand done portraits of Field Marshal Lord Robert, Admiral Lord Charles Bereford, Governor-General of Canada, Earl Grey, and Field Marshal Sir George White (defender of Ladysmith).80 On the general history of this medal see Proceedings (January 18, 1909), pp. 12-13.91 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society, pp. 46-47.92 Edward Hageman Hall, The Hudson-Fulton Celebration 1909. The Fourth Annual Report of the Hudson Fulton Celebration Commission to the Legislature of New York. Transmitted to the LegislatureMay twentieth, nineteen ten (Albany, New York; Printed for the State of New York by J. B.Lyon Company, State Printers, 1910), 2 vols.93 Proceedings (January 18, 1909), pp. 13-14.94 All this information regarding the medal is contained in the report of the commission.Edward Hageman Hall, The Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 1909, I, pp. 75-83.



NOTES to A New Home and a New Life 33985 On Jules Edouard Roin6 see L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, V, pp.195-196.98 Proceedings (January 18, 1909), p. 14.97 On these medals see Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numis-matic Society, pp. 52-55.98 New York Herald (December 21, 1909).99 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society, pp. 58-59.100 On Bela Lyon Pratt see L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, IV, p. 684. On the

medal itself see Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society,pp. 56-57.101 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of the American Numismatic Society, pp. 60-61.102 Proceedings (January 20, 1912), p. 15.103 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society, pp. 62-63.104 L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, I, pp. 574-577; VI, pp. 315-323; VII,p. 221.106 See L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, I (1904), p. 229; VII, pp. 101-102.100 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society, pp. 64-65.Also see the circular issued at the time to the subscribers.107 Hartford Daily Courant (December 14, 1913).

108 Proceedings (January 17, 1914).109 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society pp. 66-67.110 A short account of Algernon S. Sullivan's life was given in the Historiographer's reportin Proceedings (March 20, 1888), p. 14.111 Anne Middleton Holmes, Bulletin of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award Established by theNew York Southern Society in Honor of the Society's First President (Concord, 1927).112 Proceedings (January 15, 1949), p. 51. All the correspondence and papers of agreementrelating to the Sullivan Award and later Sullivan Fund are preserved by the Society.118 New York Times (May 20, 1914): Brooklyn Standard Union (May 20, 1914); New York Record and Guide (May 23, 1914).114 On the gift see Proceedings (January 15, 1906), p. 14. Also see letter from Belden to

Charles Pryer, December 29, 1905, indicating that the gift was actually made in that year rather than the next.115 See the letters from Charles Gregory to Belden, January 18, 1906 and January 7, 1907.118 Proceedings (January 21, 1907), p. 14. Also see letter from Samuel H. Valentine to Belden,January 8, 1906; and the resolution passed concerning this gift on January 15, 1906.117 Accession Book, vol. II, pp. 111-112, lists this collection. Lyman H. Low had appraisedthe collection at $ 10,000. New York Times (Mar. 7,1908); Charleston Evening Post (April 7, 1908).118 Cf. New York Sun (February 21, 1951).111 Letter from Belden to Wood, September 5, 1911. See Wood's answer of September 7,1911.180 Letter from Belden to Newell, March 27, 1913. Also see Bauman L. Belden, Medals andPublications of The American Numismatic Society, p. 15. In all earlier accounts an error was madein transliterating the name of the collection and it was given as Ro.121 Proceedings (January 18, 1909), p. 10.122 Letter from Belden to Pryer, September 24, 1909. Also see letter from Belden to E. D.Adams, September 27, 1909.123 Letter from J. Sanford Saltus to Bauman L. Belden, May 2, 1906.22Â«



340 NOTES to Coming of Age1S4 Letter from J. Sanford Saltus to Archer M. Huntington, October 22, 1913.126 Proceedings (January 20, 1912), p. 16. At the time of this bequest, a brother of Mrs. Grohstated his intention of contesting the will, but apparently nothing came of the attempt.126 Proceedings (January 21, 1911), p. 18.127 Letter from Isaac F. Greenwood to Bauman L. Belden, March 7, 1911.128 Bauman L. Belden, Medals and Publications of The American Numismatic Society, p. 16.Letter from Belden to Edward D. Adams, August 26, 1911. His benefactions to other organi-zations such as the New-York Historical Society are also worthy of note. R. W. G. Vail,

Knickerbocker Birthday. A Sesqui-Centennial History of The New-York Historical Society, 1804â€”1954(New York, 1954), p. 218.128 Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, pp. 358-374.Â«o Who's Who in New York, 1st ed. (1904), p. 48. On the older Avery sec W. T. Bonnard,New York the World's Metropolis, p. 275.131 Christian Science Monitor (May 13, 1914) and twenty-one other papers throughout thecountry.iÂ« who's Who in New York, 5th ed. (1911), p. 33.1M Who's Who in New York, 7th ed. (1918), p. 843. Also see Proceedings (January 15, 1916),p. 8.Notes to Coming of Age, 1915-1930

1 New York American (April 3, 1915); New York Evening Post (April 3, 1915).2 New York (April 4, 1915); New York World (April 5, 1915); New York Sun (April 5, 1915);New York Evening Globe (April 6, 1915); Newark Evening News (April 7, 1915).8 On the Iron Crosses see the New York World (May 31, 1915); on the American PeaceMedals see the New York Evening Mail (June 4, 1915); the Newark Evening News (June 5, 1915);the New York Herald (June 6, 1915); the Christian Science Monitor (June 10, 1915); and theBoston Journal (June 15, 1915); on the coins of the warring nations see New York World (July 28,1915).* Proceedings (January 16, 1915), p. 17.6 On these new coins see R. S. Yeoman, A Guide Book of United States Coins (8th ed.: Racine,Wisconsin, 1954), pp. 98, 108 and 121.

6 Proceedings (January 4, 1917), pp. 20-21.7 Proceedings (January 15, 1916), p. 29.8 Proceedings (January 20, 1917), pp. 22-23. Belden's letter of resignation states that thisaction on his part was taken because of necessity. Letter from Bauman L. Belden to EdwardT. Newell, April 28, 1916.â€¢ Letter from the Union Trust Company to Edward T. Newell, August 9, 1916.10 Proceedings (January 20, 1917), pp. 29-31.11 Proceedings (January 14, 1928), printed in The Numismatist, XLI, No. 3 (March 1928),p. 176. On August 11, 1931, Bauman L. Belden died peacefully at his home in Cranford, N. J.He remained an active participant in the affairs of the Society until his death. New York Times(August 12, 1931).12 Letter from William Poillon to Sydney P. Noe, May 18, 1909.18 Letter from Sydney P. Noe to Bauman L. Belden, October 25, 1915. Also see Proceedings(January 15, 1916), p. 8.



NOTES to Coming of Age 34114 Proceedings (January 20, 1917), p. 41.15 Proceedings (November 18, 1916), p. 16.16 Proceedings (January 20, 1917), p. 60.17 Letter from Newell to Noe, November 29, 1918.18 Proceedings (January 11, 1919), p. 5. A. A. Hopkins of the Scientific American, who was amember of the Society, took an extremely active part in organizing this exhibition. J. SanfordSaltus was specifically thanked by the Council for his generous support at the same time thata resolution was passed expressing the Council's appreciation to Hopkins.

"Proceedings (January 14, 1922), pp. 5-6.20 Proceedings (January 12, 1924), printed in The Numismatist, XXXVII, No. 3 (March1924), p. 269."Proceedings (January 10, 1925), printed in The Numismatist, XXXVIII, No. 3 (March1925), p. 152.22 Proceedings (January 15, 1916), p. 8.23 Proceedings (January 20, 1917), p. 31.24 Proceedings (January 12, 1918), p. 6.25 Ibid., p. 5. The actual amount of the deficit was $220.17.26 Ibid., p. 8.

27 Letter from Sydney P. Noe to E. D. Adams, May 6, 1918.28 Letter from Robert Eidlitz to Edward T. Newell read into the Council minutes of July I,1918.29 Proceedings (January 9, 1926), pp. 2-3.30 Letter from Sydney P. Noe to Edward T. Newell, December 28, 1918.31 Proceedings (January 12, 1918), pp. 12-13.32 Proceedings (January 14, 1922), p. 11.33 Letter from F. P. Merritt to the Society, March 12, 1924.34 Proceedings (January 10, 1931), printed in The Numismatist, XLIV, No. 2 (February 1931),pp. 126-127. This agreement and the trust fund for the Huntington Free Library and ReadingRoom were modified in 1955 so that the volumes on deposit at the Huntington Free Librarywere returned to the Society and one quarter of the income from the trust fund was to be paiddirectly to the American Numismatic Society to be used for the purchase of new volumes andthe maintenance of its library.38 Idem.36 Letter from Sydney P. Noe to Duffield, Editor of The Numismatist, November 24, 1920.37 Letter from J. M. Swanson, Secretary of the New York Numismatic Club, to BaumanL. Belden, read into the minutes of March 10, 1922.38 Letter from J. Sanford Saltus to Archer M. Huntington, October 22, 1913.39 Proceedings (January 20, 1917), p. 60.40 Proceedings (January 10, 1920), p. 18.

41 Proceedings (January 8, 1921), p. 73. Also see L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medal-lists, VIII, p. 269.42 Proceedings (January 14, 1922), pp. 51-53.43 For an obituary giving a full account of Saltus' death see The Numismatist, XXXV, No. 8(August 1922), pp. 378-379.44 Idem.44 Letter from the Reverend Milo H. Gates to Howland Wood, July 6, 1922. He gave thefollowing description of what, in his opinion, must have occurred. "Mr. Saltus had mixed



342 NOTES to Coining of Agecyanide of potassium in a tumbler; he had also put a prescription he had for indigestion in atumbler exactly like the other one. I saw both glasses. The colour of the liquids in both wasalmost alike; in the evening by electric light they must have looked exactly alike. He evidentlywent across the room for something and came back to his dressing table and picked up thepoison tumbler by mistake for the tumbler which contained his medicine. Of course the firstdrink was instantly fatal."48 L. Porter, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, VII, pp. 422-423. Also see the leafletpublished at the time by the Society to advertise this medal. A total of one specimen in gold,

50 copies in silver and 450 in bronze were issued. Proceedings (January 12, 1918), p. 25.47 Letter from Eli Harvey to Edward Adams, September 5, 1917.48 Letter from Edward D. Adams to Edward T. Newell, March 29, 1918.4* On Daniel Chester French see Forrer, op. cit., II, pp. 155-156.50 On Evelyn B.Longman see Forrer, op. cit., VII, p. 561. Afull description of the medal canbe found in the advertisement published at the time by the Committee on Decorations of theSociety. There were also a number of articles describing it in the local press of the period.61 On Allen G. Newman see Forrer, op. cit., VIII, p. 95. On the medal itself see the adver-tisement published at the time by the Committee on the Publication of Medals.58 For the publication of this piece a special committee was formed which issued a circular

which is still extant.e* Letters from Saltus to Noe, August 17, 1918; August 19, 1918. Also see the medal accountin a letter from Noe to Saltus, August 20, 1918.M Letter from Saltus to Wyman, September 15, 1918; letter from Wyman to Saltus, Sep-tember 16, 1918; Letter from Saltus to Wood, September 20, 1918.66 Letter from Saltus to Wyman, September 17, 1918; letter from Wyman to Saltus, Sep-tember 18, 1918.66 Proceedings, (January 11, 1919), p. 18. Cf. the very frank letter from Noe to Newell, De-cember 28, 1918. Fifteen sculptors participated.67 On Chester Beach see L. Forrer, op. cit., VII, p. 58.*8 See the circular issued by the Committee on the Publication of Medals.59 This piece also seems to have owed its origin to the generosity of J. Sanford Saltus be-cause in a letter from Noe to Saltus, January 25,1919, it is stated that Miss Hyatt was planningher medal and that Saltus had requested that the completion be set for April 15th.60 Letter from Saltus to Noe, June 7, 1919.61 Letter from Saltus to Noe, July 10,1919. On John Flanagan see L. Forrer, op. cit., VIII,p. 308.62 Circular issued by the Committee on the Publication of Medals.83 Letter from Noe to Saltus, November 19, 1919.84 Letters from Saltus to Noe, July 10, 1919; August 11, 1919; September 15, 1919.85 Telegram from Saltus to Noe, September 28, 1919.

66 Letter from Noe to Saltus, September 29, 1919.67 A full description of the event was transmitted to Saltus in a letter from Noe, October 6,1919. The best published account of it appeared in the New York Herald (Oct. 5, 1919), butit was also noted in the New York Tribune (Oct. 5, 1919); New York Sun (Oct. 5, 1919); andNew York Times of same date.48 See note 50.89 Letter from Robert W. De Forest to Edward T. Newell, December 9, 1920.70 Proceedings (January 8, 1921), pp. 105-106, and Proceedings (January 13, 1923), p. 74.





344 NOTES to The Mature Years101 Proceedings (January 12, 1929), printed in The Numismatist, XLII, No. 3 (March 1929),pp. 151-152."' New York Sim (November 14, 1930).Notes to The Mature Years, 1931-19451 Proceedings (January 10, 1931), printed in The Numismatist, XLIV, No. 2 (February 1931),pp. 122-124.* Alfred R. Bellinger, The Excavation at Dura-Europos. Final Report VI. The Coins (New Haven,1949).

'Alfred R. Bellinger, Two Roman Hoards from Dura -Europos, NNM 49 (1931); The Third andFourth Dura Hoards, NNM 55 (1932); The Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Dura Hoards, NNM 69 (1935);The Eighth and Ninth Dura Hoards,NNM 85 (1939); Edward T.Newell, The Fifth Dura Hoard,NNM 58 (1933).Â« Proceedings (January 9, 1932), published in The Numismatist XLV, No. 2 (February 1932),pp. 102-103.6 Edward T. Newell, Two Hoards from Mintumo, NNM 60 (1933).6 Proceedings (January 12, 1935), p. 5.''Proceedings (January 10, 1931), printed in The Numismatist, XLIV, No. 2 (February 1931),p. 132.8 Rowland Wood, The Gampola Larin Hoard, NNM 61 (1934).

â€¢John Walker, The Coinage of the Second Sa/arid Dynasty in Sistan, NNM 72 (1936); CharlesC. Torrey, Aramaic Graffiti on Coins of Dcmanhur, NNM 77 (1937); George C. Miles, The Numis-matic History of Rayy, Numismatic Studies, No. 2 (1938); George C. Miles, A Byzantine WeightValidated by al-Walid, NNM 87 (1939).10 Letter from Harrold E. Gillingham to Archer M. Huntington, March 16, 1933, in theCouncil Minutes of April 21, 1933.11 See the Treasurer's Reports for the years 1932-1933.12 Edward T. Newell, The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints from Seleucus I to Antiochus III(1938); George C. Miles, The Numismatic History of Rayy (1938); Alfred R. Bellinger, TheSyrian Tetradrachms ofCaracalla and Macrinus (1940); Edward T. Newell, The Coins of the WesternSeleucid Mints from Seleucus I to Antiochus III (1941); and Jocelyn M. Câ€¢ Toynbee, Roman Medal-

lions (1944).13 Sydney P. Noe, The Alexander Coinage of Sicyon Arranged from Notes of Edward T. Newellwith Comments and Additions by Sydney P. Noe, Numismatic Studies, No. 6 (New York, 1950)."The Numismatist, LI, No. 2 (February 1938), p. 128."Proceedings (January 13, 1938), pp. 1-9."Ibid., p. 6.17 Proceedings (January 13, 1938), pp. 6-7.18 Proceedings (January 10, 1931), printed in The Numismatist, XLIV, No. 2 (February 1931),p. 124."Proceedings (January 12, 1935), pp. 5-6.20 Proceedings (January 11, 1936), p. 5.21 Donald F. Brown, Temples of Rome as Coin Types, NNM 90 (1940); Bluma L. Trell, TheTemple of Artemis at Ephesos, NNM 107 (1945).



NOTES to The Mature Years 34522 On this attempt to prepare a new version of the Architectura Numismatica see Proceedings(Jan. 14, 1939), pp. 8-9, as well as Proceedings (Jan. 11, 1941), p. 43.23 Proceedings (January 14,1933). printed in The Numismatist, XLVI, No. 2 (February 1933),p. 112. Also see John C. Fitzpatrick, "The Story of the Order of the Purple Heart," Historyof the George Washington Bicentennial Celebration (Washington, 1932), III, pp. 705-715.24 See the circular issued by the Society to advertise this medal.26 Proceedings (January 15, 1938), pp. 9-10. Cf. Ibid., (January 14, 1939), pp. 4-5.26 Proceedings (January 14, 1939), p. 10.

27 Proceedings (January 8, 1921), pp. 6-7.28 Rowland Wood, The Gampola Larin Hoard, NNM 61 (New York, 1934).28 See also Proceedings (January 13, 1934), p. 12.30 For a full description of the important accessions of this year see Ibid., pp. 12-13.31 "Medal For The Unknown Washroom Warrior," The Numismatist, XLVI, No. 11 (No-vember 1933), pp. 704-705.82 Proceedings (January 11, 1936), p. 12.33 Edward T. Newell, Reattribution of Certain Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great (New York,1912), reprinted from a series of articles which appeared in American Journal of Numismatics,XLV-XLVI (1911-1912), and Edward T. Newell, Alexander Hoards-II, Demanhur Hoard,

NNM 19 (New York, 1923).84 Proceedings (January 11, 1936).36 O. P. Eklund and Sydney P. Noc, Hacienda Tokens of Mexico, NNM 115 (New York, 1949).36 On the death of these two men see Proceedings (January 9, 1937), pp. 2-4. An appreciationof the extent of the two donations made in memory of these men can be seen in the Report of the Committee on Ancient Coins at the Annual Meeting of 1938.37 A synopsis of that address was published in The Numismatist, XXXI, No. 4 (April 1918),pp. 181-182.38 See the obituary for John Reilly, Jr., in The Numismatist, XLIV, No. 3 (March 1931),pp. 204-205.38 Cf. A note by Farran Zerbe in The Numismatist, XLIV, No. 3 (March 1931), p. 205.40 After her marriage Miss Reilly became Mrs. E. N. Baynes.41 H. F. Bowker, A Numismatic Bibliography of the Far East, NNM 101 (New York 1943),and Yu-ch'uan Wang, Early Chinese Coinage, NNM 122 (New York 1951).42 Proceedings (January 11, 1947), pp. 2 and 14.43 On this gift see Proceedings (January 15, 1938), p. 5.41 Proceedings (January 11, 1936), p. 2.46 On this collection see Proceedings (January 11, 1941), pp. 2 and 13.46 Proceedings (January 11, 1941), p. 35, and Proceedings (January 12, 1951), p. 22.47 Proceedings (January 11, 1941), pp. 4 and 18.48 Jean B. Cammann, The Symbols on Staters of Corinthian Type (A Catalogue), NNM 53 (New

York, 1932).49 This bibliography was published in The Numismatist, LIV, No. 4 (April 1941), pp. 268-269. The most extensive bibliography, which includes Newell's book reviews, appeared in thereview of his Byzantine Hoard of Lagbe (NNM 105), by Paul Clement in the American Journal of Philology, LXVIII (1947), pp. 426-432.60 See particularly the obituaries in The Numismatist, LIV, No. 4 (April 1941), pp. 267-9,and The Coin Collector's Journal, VIII, No. 4 (April 1941), p. 50.61 Proceedings (January 9, 1943), pp. 1-2.



346 NOTES to The Peak "Sydney P. Noe, The Castine Deposit: An American Hoard, NNM 100 (New York 1942). Insucceeding years Noe was to produce three other monographs devoted to the Willow Tree,Oak Tree, and Pine Tree coinages."Proceedings (January 10, 1942), p. 9 and Proceedings (January 10, 1948), p. 48.M Proceedings (January 10, 1942), pp. 13-14.56 Proceedings (Januarys, 1927), printed in The Numismatist, XL, No. 2 (February 1927),p. 96.60 Proceedings (January 10, 1942), p. 2.

67 Ibid., p. 14.68 Notes on the Decorations and Medals of the French Colonies and Protectorates, NNM 36(New York, 1928); South American Decorations and War Medals, NNM 56 (New York, 1922);Ephemeral Decorations, NNM 66 (New York, 1935); Mexican Decorations of Honour, NNM 89(New York, 1940)."Proceedings (January 14, 1933), printed in The Numismatist, XLVI. No. 2 (February 1933),p. 108, and Proceedings (January 13, 1945), p. 51.Notes to The Peak, 1945-19581 Presidential Address by President Dewing. Proceedings (January 10, 1948), p. 1.2 On NewelPs death see the preceding chapter and the obituary notices which appeared in

The Numismatist, LIV, No. 4 (April 1941), pp. 267-269, and The Coin Collector's Journal, VIII,No. 4 (April 1941), p. 50.8 The actual figure of 87,603 pieces in the Newell Collection was given in the report of theCurator. Proceedings (January 13, 1945), p. 35. It is there stated that "There are a little over 60,000 Greek coins, 23,087 Roman coins, 1,752 Byzantine pieces, while miscellaneous groupsraise the grand total to 87,603."4 Proceedings (January 13, 1945), pp. 9-30.6 Proceedings (January 12, 1946), p. 2.6 Proceedings (January 15, 1949), p. 1.7 Proceedings (January 13, 1951), p. 5.8 Proceedings (January 13, 1945), p. 31.8 Proceedings (January 11, 1947), pp. 1-2; also see Proceedings (January 10, 1948), pp. 2and 27.10 Proceedings (January 11, 1947), p. 15.11 Proceedings (January 12, 1952), p. 19.12 Letter from Archer M. Huntington to Louis C. West, March 9, 1949.13 Letter from Archer M. Huntington to President Herbert E. Ives, June 12, 1946.14 Proceedings (January 10, 1948), pp. 10-12.16 Proceedings (January 11, 1947), p. 2.18 Proceedings (January 15, 1949), pp. 19 and 21.17 Proceedings (January 14, 1950).

18 Proceedings (January 13, 1951), p. 11.19 Proceedings (January 16, 1954), p. 6.20 Proceedings (January 14, 1956), pp. 21-22.21 Proceedings (January 15, 1949), p. 26.



NOTES to The Peak 34722 Proceedings (January 13, 1951), p. 24."Proceedings (January 12, 1957), pp. 10, 19, 23, 25, 31 and 32.24 Proceedings (January 14, 1956), p. 10.26 Proceedings (January 12, 1957), p. 8.26 Proceedings (January 10, 1948), p. 3. Cf. the Report of the Finance Committee. Ibid.,pp. 7-9. In that report the fact is noted that approximately half of the income came from thedividends of the one block of stock received as a gift in 1946.27 Proceedings (January 14, 1950), p. 13.

28 Proceedings (Januay 13, 1951), pp. 11-12 and 27."Proceedings (January 12, 1952), p. 1.30 Proceedings (January 16, 1954), p. 4.31 Proceedings (January 13, 1940), p. 49.32 Proceedings (January 10, 1942), p. 52.33 Proceedings (January 11, 1947), p. 8."Idem.35 Proceedings (January 12, 1918), p. 8.38 The new Constitution and By-Laws were published in Proceedings (January 10,1948),pp. 52-67. This first amendment is recorded in Proceedings (January 15, 1949), p. 38.

37 Proceedings (January 15, 1949), p. 39.38 See the Directory of American Scholars (3rd ed.).39 This action was brought to the attention of the members at the Annual Meeting of 1950when it was also announced that the Council had determined to close the Museum on Mon-days and to'remain open on the other five weekdays. At the same time the Fellows of the Societywere asked to approve an increase in the annual dues for Fellows and Associate Members.Proceedings (January 14, 1950), p. 6.40 See President Ives' speech at the Annual Meeting in 1945. Proceedings (January 13, 1945),pp. 7-8.41 Proceedings (January 12, 1946), pp. 4-5. Cf. Ibid., pp. 25-27.42 Letter from C. H. V. Sutherland to Sawyer McA. Mosser, November 29, 1947.43 Letter from Nils Ludvig Rasmusson to Sawyer McA. Mosser, June 7, 1947.44 Proceedings (January 10, 1948), pp. 22-23.46 Proceedings (January 13, 1951), pp. 18-19.46 Proceedings (January 10, 1953), pp. 17-18.47 President Ives' thoughts on the subject as expressed in his Presidential Address as wellas the circular were published in Proceedings (January 15, 1944), pp. 7-10.48 Proceedings (January 13, 1945), pp. 6-7.48 On this Seminar see Proceedings (January 12, 1952), p. 3, and the final report of theprogram in Numismatic Literature, No. 21 (October 1952), pp. 198-9.80 Letter from Prof. Henri Seyrig to Louis C. West, October 24, 1954; letter from Prof.

Ernst Kantorowicz to Louis C. West, January 8, 1954; letter from Prof. George M. A. Hanf-mann to Louis C. West January 8, 1954.51 Proceedings (January 14, 1956), p. 7.62 Letter from Archer M. Huntington to Louis C. West, March 9, 1949.



348 OFFICERS AND STAFFPRESIDENTSIsaac Hand Gibbs, M.D., April 13, 1858 to November 3, 1858Robert J. Dodge, November 3, 1858 to March 11, 1864Frank H. Norton, March 11, 1864 to April 25, 1867Charles E. Anthon, April 25, 1867 to May 9, 1867Elisha Y. Ten Eyck, May 9, 1867 to March 26, 1868Charles E. Anthon, March 26, 1868 to March 24, 1870Benjamin Betts, March 24, 1870 to March 27, 1873Charles E. Anthon, March 27, 1873 to October 1, 1883Daniel Parish, Jr., October 1, 1883 to March 16, 1896Andrew C. Zabriskie, March 16, 1896 to January 16, 1905

Archer M. Huntington, January 16, 1905 to December 20, 1909There were no Presidents in the years 1910 to 1915 inclusive.Edward T. Newell, January 28, 1916 to February 18, 1941Stephen H. P. Pell, February 18, 1941 to January 10, 1942Herbert E. Ives, January 10, 1942 to January 11, 1947Arthur S. Dewing, January 11, 1947 to January 15, 1949Louis C. West, January 15, 1949 to date

HONORARY PRESIDENTSArcher M. Huntington, January 14, 1922 to December 11, 1955Stephen H. P. Pell, January 15, 1949 to June 22, 1950FIRST VICE-PRESIDENTSHenry Whitmore, April 13, 1858 to November 3, 1858Henry Bogert, November 3, 1858 to March 11, 1864George H. Perine, M.D., March 11, 1864 to March 25, 1869



OFFICERS AND STAFF 349Benjamin Betts, March 25, 1869 to March 24, 1870Daniel Parish, Jr., March 24, 1870 to March 27, 1873Benjamin Betts, March 27, 1873 to March 26, 1874Daniel Parish, Jr., March 26, 1874 to March 16, 1875Gen. John Watts de Peyster, March 16, 1875 to June 4, 1875Frederic J. de Peyster, June 4, 1875 to March 21, 1876Daniel Parish, Jr., March 21, 1876 to March 18, 1879Alexander Balmanno, March 18, 1879 to March 16, 1880Daniel Parish, Jr., March 16, 1880 to March 18, 1884Andrew C. Zabriskie, March 18, 1864 to March 16, 1896John M. Dodd, Jr., March 16, 1896 to March 21, 1898Henry Russell Drowne, March 21, 1898 to January 19, 1903Woodbury G. Langdon, January 19, 1903 to January 16, 1905Daniel Parish, Jr., January 16, 1905 to December 20, 1909There were no Vice-Presidents in the years 1910 to 1941 inclusive.Stephen H. P. Pell, January 10, 1942 to January 11, 1947Louis C. West, January 11, 1947 to January 15, 1949A. Carson Simpson, January 15, 1949 to January 11, 1958Samuel R. Milbank, January 11, 1958 to dateSECOND VICE-PRESIDENTSIsaac J. Greenwood, July 28, 1864 to March 22, 1866John F. McCoy, March 22, 1866 to March 29, 1867William C. Prime, March 29, 1867 to March 26, 1868Charles H. Homer, March 26, 1868 to March 25, 1869William B. Dick, March 25, 1869 to March 24, 1870

James M. Bailey, March 24, 1870 to March 27, 1873



350 OFFICERS AND STAFFDaniel Parish, Jr., March 27, 1873 to March 26, 1874Frederic J. de Peyster, March 21, 1876 to March 18, 1879Daniel Parish, Jr., March 18, 1879 to March 16, 1880Robert Hewitt, Jr., March 16, 1880 to March 18, 1884John M. Dodd, Jr., March 18, 1884 to March 17, 1885Frank Abbott, M.D., March 17, 1885 to March 16, 1886David L. Walter, March 16, 1886 to March 15, 1887William Poillon, A.M., March 15, 1887 to March 19, 1894John M. Dodd, Jr., March 19, 1894 to March 16, 1896Henry Russell Drowne, March 16, 1896 to March 21, 1898Woodbury G. Langdon, March 21, 1898 to January 19, 1903Richard Hoe Lawrence, January 19, 1903, to January 21, 1907J. Sanford Saltus, January 21, 1907 to December 20, 1909There were no Vice-Presidents in the years 1910 to 1941 inclusive.Harrold E. Gillingham, January 10, 1942 to January 12, 1946Samuel R. Milbank, January 12, 1946 to January 11, 1958A. Carson Simpson, to January 11, 1958 to dateTHIRD VICE-PRESIDENTSRobert L. Stuart, March 16, 1875 to March 21, 1876Alexander Balmanno, March 21, 1876 to March 18, 1879Frederic J. de Peyster, March 18, 1879, to March 16, 1880Andrew C. Zabriskie, March 16, 1880 to March 18, 1884Robert, Hewitt, Jr. March 18, 1884 to March 17, 1885David L. Walter, March 17, 1885 to March 16, 1886William Poillon, March 16, 1886 to March 15, 1887

James Oliver, March 15, 1887 to March 17, 1890



OFFICERS AND STAFF 351David L. Walter, March 17, 1890 to March 21, 1892John M. Dodd, Jr., March 21, 1892 to March 20, 1893There were no Third Vice-Presidents in the years 1894 to 1941 inclusive.George W. Husker, January 10, 1942 to January 9, 1943Douglas P. Dickie, January 9, 1943 to January 15, 1944

Arthur S. Dewing, January 15, 1944 to January 12, 1946Louis C. West, January 12, 1946 to January 11, 1947Stephen H. P. Pell, January 11, 1947 to January 15, 1949Damon G. Douglas, January 15, 1949 to January 15, 1955Wheaton J. Lane, January 15, 1955 to dateFOURTH VICE-PRESIDENTSDavid L. Walter, March 15, 1887 to March 17, 1890

James Oliver, March 17, 1890 to March 16, 1891SECRETARIESWilliam Poillon, A.M., March 26, 1874 to March 16, 1886Henry Russell Drowne, March 16, 1886 to March 16, 1896Bauman L. Belden, March 16, 1896 to January 19, 1903John Kensett Olyphant, January 19, 1903 to November 16, 1903Alfred J. Bloor, November 16, 1903 to January 16, 1905Bauman L. Belden, January 16, 1905 to January 15, 1916Henry Russell Drowne, January 15, 1916 to January 20, 1917Sydney P. Noe, January 20, 1917 to April 15, 1947Sawyer McA. Mosser, April 16, 1947 to dateASSISTANT SECRETARYRaymond E. Main, July 11, 1953 to date



352 OFFICERS AND STAFFRECORDING SECRETARIESJames Oliver, April 13, 1858 to March 25, 1869James Muhlenburg Bailey, March 25, 1869 to March 24, 1870Abraham Redlich, March 24, 1870 to March 27, 1873

William Poillon, March 27, 1873 to March 26, 1874CORRESPONDING SECRETARIESAugustus B. Sage, April 13, 1858 to November 3, 1858Frank H. Norton, November 3, 1858 to March 11, 1864F. Augustus Wood, March 11, 1864 to October 12, 1865Daniel Parish, Jr., October 12, 1865 to March 22, 1866F. Augustus Wood, March 22, 1866 to May 24, 1866

Charles De F. Burns, May 24, 1866 to March 29, 1867Charles E. Anthon, March 29, 1867 to March 26, 1868Robert Hewitt, Jr., March 26, 1868 to March 25, 1869John A. Nexsen, March 25, 1869 to March 24, 1870Loring Watson, March 24, 1870 to March 27, 1873Walter Tounele, March 19, 1894 to March 15, 1897

J. Sanford Saltus, March 15, 1897 to March 21, 1898George F. Kunz, March 21, 1898 to March 19, 1900J. Sanford Saltus, March 19, 1900 to January 16, 1905Henry Russell Drowne, January 16, 1905 to February 10, 1910DOMESTIC CORRESPONDING SECRETARYHenry Russell Drowne, February 21, 1910 to January 27, 1915FOREIGN CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

Edward T. Newell, February 21, 1910 to January 27, 1915



OFFICERS AND STAFF 353TREASURERSTheophilus W. Lawrence, April 13, 1858 to November 3, 1858William S. F. Mayers, November 3, 1858 to February 17, 1859Frank H. Joudon, February 17, 1859 to March 11, 1864John Hanna, March 11, 1864 to March 29, 1867

Elisha Y. Ten Eyck, March 29, 1867 to May 9, 1867Joseph N. T. Levick, May 9, 1867 to March 26, 1874Benjamin Betts, March 26, 1874 to March 19, 1889Charles Pryer, March 19, 1889 to January 27, 1915John Reilly, Jr., January 27, 1915 to September 19,1924Harrold E. Gillingham, September 19, 1924 to January 14, 1939Samuel R. Milbank, January 14, 1939 to January 14, 1940Central Hanover Bank and Trust Co., January 14, 1940 to January 13, 1951

The Hanover Bank, January 13, 1951 to dateHISTORIOGRAPHERSWilliam R. Weeks, March 18, 1884 to March 17, 1885Henry Russell Drowne, March 17, 1885 to March 16, 1886Charles Pryer, March 16, 1886 to March 19, 1889William R. Weeks, March 19, 1889 to March 18, 1895William Poillon, March 18, 1895 to January 21, 1907Charles G. Dodd, January 21, 1907 to January 18, 1909

ACTUARYJames D. Foskett, April 13, 1858 to?EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Sawyer McA. Mosser, January 22, 1955 to date



354 OFFICERS AND STAFFCURATORSCharles H. Wright, March 19, 1894 to March 15, 1897Edward Groh, March 15, 1897 to January 16, 1905William Poillon, January 16, 1905 to January 17, 1910

Agnes Baldwin, January 17, 1910 to January 25, 1913Rowland Wood, January 25, 1913 to January 14, 1938Sydney P. Noe, January 15, 1938 to April 15, 1947CHIEF CURATORSSydney P. Noe, April 16, 1947 to August 31, 1953Georges C. Miles, September 1, 1954 to date

CHIEF CURATOR EMERITUSSydney P. Noe, September 1, 1953 to dateASSISTANT CURATORSArthur C. Wyman, January 18, 1921 to January 11, 1926Robert Robertson, January 1, 1927 to January 22, 1937William L. Clark, March 22, 1937 to April 15, 1947

ASSOCIATE CURATOR Agnes Baldwin Brett, January 11, 1936 to January 14, 1956HONORARY CURATOR FOR MOHAMMEDAN COINSGeorge C. Miles, January 13, 1940 to January 11, 1947CURATOR OF ISLAMIC COINSGeorge C. Miles, August 15, 1946 to January 12, 1952



OFFICERS AND STAFF 355DIRECTOR OF ISLAMIC AND HISPANIC STUDIESGeorges C. Miles, January 12, 1952 to January 16, 1954CURATOR OF FAR EASTERN COINSYu-ch'uan Wang, January 10, 1948 to January 14, 1950

CURATOR OF MEDALSRichard D. Kenney, January 14, 1946 to January 10, 1953CURATOR OF MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN COINSWilliam L. Clark, April 16, 1947 to dateCURATOR OF GREEK COINSSydney P. Noe, April 16, 1947 to January' 10, 1953Margaret Thompson, January 15, 1954 to date

ASSISTANT CURATOR OF GREEK COINSMargaret Thompson, September 1, 1949 to January 15, 1954CURATOR OF ROMAN AND BYZANTINE COINSAline Abaecherli Boyce, April 16, 1947 to November 1, 1956George L. Kustas, June 18, 1957 to September 1, 1958ASSISTANT TO THE CURATOR

Aline Abaecherli Boyce, January 12, 1946 to April 15, 1947HONORARY CURATOR OF NEWELL COLLECTIONMrs. Edward T. (Adra M.) Newell, January 10, 1942 to date23 â€¢



356 OFFICERS AND STAFFASSISTANT IN ANCIENT COINSElaine Pond, January 15, 1949 to January 14, 1950ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF CURATOR Henry Grunthal, June 23, 1953 to date

CURATORS OF NUMISMATICSJames D. Foskett, September 14, 1858 to November 3, 1858Augustus B. Sage, November 3, 1858 to January 6, 1859William L. Bramhall, January 6, 1859 to April 7, 1859Edward Groh, April 7, 1859 to March 18, 1879Richard Hoe Lawrence, March 18, 1879 to March 16, 1880

Charles H. Wright, March 16, 1880 to March 19, 1894CURATORS OF ARCHAEOLOGYHenry de Morgan, March 18, 1884 to March 17, 1885Gaston L. Feuardent, March 17, 1885 to March 20, 1888Joseph Wiener, M.D., March 20, 1888 to March 17, 1890Edward Groh, March 17, 1890 to November 16, 1891

Herbert Valentine, November 16, 1891 to March 19, 1894LIBRARIANSJames D. Foskett, November 3, 1858 to March 11, 1864Edward Groh, March 11, 1864 to February 9, 1865Frank Leathe, February 9, 1865 to March 22, 1866Daniel Parish, Jr., March 22, 1866 to March 25, 1869

Isaac Francis Wood, March 25, 1869 to March 16, 1880Richard Hoe Lawrence, March 16, 1880 to March 16, 1886



OFFICERS AND STAFF 357Lyman H. Low, March 16, 1886 to November 16, 1891Bauman Lowe Belderi, November 16, 1891 to March 16, 1896Herbert Valentine, March 16, 1896 to January 16, 1905Charles G. Dodd, January 16, 1905 to January 15, 1906S. Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., January 15, 1906 to January 20, 1908William R. Weeks, January 20, 1908 to February 18, 1911A.H. Cooper-Prichard, February 16, 1911 to January 25, 1913Alexander D. Savage, January 25, 1913 to January 27, 1915Sydney P. Noe, January 27, 1915 to January 15, 1938Sawyer McA. Mosser, January 15, 1938 to April 16, 1947H. Alan Steeves, Jr., April 16, 1947 to February 1, 1948

Richard P. Breaden, February 16, 1948 to dateASSISTANT LIBRARIANSSawyer McA. Mosser, September 2, 1930 to January 14, 1938H. Alan Steeves, Jr., April 1, 1946 to April 15, 1947John J. Buckley, January 10, 1948 to January 15, 1949Barbara Peet Lynch, January 15, 1949 to January 12, 1952Edwin W. Tomlinson, January 12, 1952 to January 10, 1953

Geoffrey H. North, January 10, 1953 to dateEDITORSSydney P. Noe, October 1, 1921 to January 13, 1945Alfred R. Bellinger, January 13, 1945 to January 3, 1947Sawyer McA. Mosser, January 4, 1947 to date



358 OFFICERS AND STAFFASSISTANT EDITOR Howard L. Adelson, October 16, 1953 to January 14, 1956ASSOCIATE EDITORSRowland Wood, October 1, 1921 to January 4, 1938

Sawyer McA. Mosser, January 15, 1938 to January 4, 1947Howard L. Adelson, January 14, 1956 to date



THE COUNCIL 359COUNCIL OF ADMINISTRATIONTerm beginning January 15, 1906Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., Richard Hoe Law-rence, Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, CharlesPryer, S. Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., William Poillon, J. SanfordSaltus, Edward D. Adams, and Newell Martin.Term beginning January 21, 1907Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus,Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer,S. Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., William Poillon, Edward D. Adams,Newell Martin, and George Bird Grinnell

Term beginning January 20, 1908Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus,Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer,William Raymond Weeks, William Poillon, Edward D. Adams,Newell Martin, and George Bird Grinnell.Term beginning January 18, 1909Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus,

Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer,William Raymond Weeks, William Poillon, Edward D. Adams,Newell Martin, and George Bird Grinnell.Term beginning January 17, 1910Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus,Edward D. Adams, William Poillon, Edward Robinson, Bau-man Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer,

William B. Osgood Field, Frank A. Vanderlip, John I. WaterburyNewell Martin, Edward T. Newell, and William R. Weeks.Term beginning January 21, 1911Charles G. Dodd, Newell Martin, Edward T. Newell, DanielParish Jr., Archer M. Huntington, J. Sanford Saltus, Edward D.Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William Poillon, Edward Robin-son, Bauman Lowe Belden, Charles Pryer, William B. OsgoodField, Frank A. Vanderlip, and John I. Waterbury.



360 THE COUNCILTerm beginning January 20, 1912William B. Osgood Field, Frank A. Vanderlip, John I. Water-bury, Charles G. Dodd, Newell Martin, Edward T. Newell,Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus,Edward D. Adams, William Poillon, Edward Robinson, Bau-

man Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, and Charles Pryer.Term beginning January 25, 1913William B. Osgood Field, Frank A. Vanderlip, John I. Water-bury, Charles G. Dodd, Newell Martin, Edward T. Newell, Ar-cher M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., J. Sanford Saltus,Edward D. Adams, William Poillon, Edward Robinson, BaumanLowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, and Charles Pryer.

Term beginning January 17, 1914Edward D. Adams, William Poillon, Edward Robinson, Bau-man Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer,William B. Osgood Field, Frank A. Vanderlip, John. I. Water-bury, Charles G. Dodd, Newell Martin, Edward T. Newell,Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr., and J. Sanford Saltus.Term beginning January 16, 1915Archer M. Huntington, J. Sanford Saltus, William H. Woodin,Edward D. Adams, William Poillon, Edward Robinson, BaumanLowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer, William B.Osgood Field, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury, Newell Mar-tin, Edward T. Newell, and Elliott Smith.Term beginning January 15, 1916Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Archer M. Huntington, J. Sanford Saltus, William H. Woodin, Edward

D. Adams, William Poillon, Edward Robinson, Bauman LoweBelden, Henry Russell Drowne, Charles Pryer, William B. OsgoodField, John Reilly, Jr., and John I. Waterbury.Term beginning January 20, 1917F.C.C. Boyd, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury, RobertJames Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W. GedneyBeatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin, Edward

D. Adams, William Poillon, Bauman Lowe Belden, HenryRussell Drowne, and Stephen H.P. Pell.



THE COUNCIL 361Term beginning January 12, 1918Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, W. Oilman Thomp-son, Robert Jame,s. Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith,Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William

H. Woodin, F.C.C. Boyd, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury,J. Sanford Saltus,* and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 11, 1919Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, W. Oilman Thomp-son, Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith,Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William

H. Woodin, F.C.C. Boyd, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury,J. Sanford Saltus,* and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 10, 1920W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,F.C.C. Boyd, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury, Harrold E.Gillingham, Stephen H. P. Pell, W. Gilman Thompson, RobertJames Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Bauman LoweBelden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field. J.Sanford Saltus,* and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 18, 1921Robert J. Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W. GedneyBeatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin, Harrold E.Gillingham, W. Gilman Thompson, Stephen H.P. Pell, BaumanLowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field,F.C.C. Boyd, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury, J. Sanford

Saltus,* and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 14, 1922John Reilly, Jr., James B. Nies, Herbert Scoville, Robert JamesEidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W. Gedney Beatty, W.Gilman Thompson, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,Henry Russell Drowne, Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H. P.Pell, Bauman Lowe Belden, William B. Osgood Field, and Ed-

ward D. Adams.** Councillors for life.



362 THE COUNCILTerm beginning January 13, 1923Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, John Reilly, Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville,Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W.Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,

Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, John W. Garrett,and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 13, 1924Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, John Reilly, Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville,Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W.Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,

Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, John W. Garrett,and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 22, 1925Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, John Reilly, Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville,Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W.Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, John W. Garrett,and Edward D. Adams.*Term beginning January 9, 1926Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W.Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P.Pell, Johm W. Garrett,Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, John Reilly, Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville,

Edward D. Adams,* and John I. Waterbury.*Term beginning January 14, 1927Bauman Lowe Belden, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Os-good Field, John Reilly, Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville,Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W.Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H. P. Pell, John W. Garrett,

Edward D. Adams,* and John I. Waterbury.** Honorary Councillors for Life.



THE COUNCIL 363Term beginning January 14, 1928William B. Osgood Field, Henry Russell Browne, Hoyt Miller,John Reilly, Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville, Robert J.Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, W. Gedney Beatty,Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin, Harrold Gilling-

ham, Stephen H.P.Pell, John W. Garrett. Edward D. Adams,*John I. Waterbury,* and Bauman L. Belden.*Term beginning January 12, 1929Harrold Gillingham, Henry R. Drowne, Stephen H.P.Pell, JohnW. Garrett, William B.Osgood Field, Hoyt Miller, John Reilly, Jr.,Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville, Robert J. Eidlitz, Edward T.Newell, Elliott Smith, W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington,

William H. Woodin, Edward B. Adams,* John W. Garrett,*and Bauman L. Belden.*Term beginning January 11,1930W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P.Pell, William B. OsgoodField, Henry Russell Browne, Hoyt Miller, John Reilly, Jr., Al-bert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville, John W. Garrett,* Edward D.Adams,* and Bauman L. Belden.*Term beginning January 10, 1931Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Moritz Wormser, Robert J.Eidlitz, W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H.Woodin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P.Pell, William B.Osgood Field, Henry Russell Browne, Hoyt Miller, John Reilly,Jr., Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville. John W. Garrett,* andBauman L. Belden.*

Term beginning January 9, 1932Herbert Scoville, Albert Gallatin, De Witt Clinton Falls, EdwardT. Newell, Elliott Smith, Moritz Wormser, Robert James Eidlitz,W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, William B. OsgoodField, Henry Russell Drowne, Hoyt Miller.and John W.Garrett.*

* Honorary Councillors for Life.



364 THE COUNCILTerm beginning January 14, 1933Hoyt Miller, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field,Herbert Scoville, Albert Gallatin, DeWitt Clinton Falls,Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Moritz Wormser, Robert J.Eidlitz, W. Gedney Beatty, Archer M. Huntington, William H.

Woodin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, and JohnW. Garrett.*Term beginning January 13, 1934Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, Moritz Wormser,Hoyt Miller, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field,DeWitt Clinton Falls, Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville,Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Herbert

E. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, William H. Woodin, and JohnW. Garrett.*Term beginning January 12, 1935Herbert E. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, T. K. Schmuck, Har-rold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, Moritz Wormser, HoytMiller, William B. Osgood Field, DeWitt Clinton Falls, AlbertGallatin, Herbert Scoville, Robert James Eidlitz, Edward T.Newell, Elliott Smith, and John W. Garrett.*Term beginning January 11,1936Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Herbert E. Winlock, HerbertE. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, T.K.. Schmuck, Harrold E. Gil-lingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, Moritz Wormser, Hoyt Miller,William B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank, DeWitt ClintonFalls, Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville, and John W. Garrett.*Term beginning January 11, 1937

DeWitt Clinton Falls, Albert Gallatin, Herbert Scoville, Ed-ward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, Herbert E. Winlock, Herbert E.Ives, Archer M. Huntington, T.K. Schmuck, Harrold E. Gilling-ham, Stephen H.P.Pell, Moritz Wormser, Hoyt Miller, Wil-liam B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank, and John W. Garrett.*Term beginning January 15, 1938Hoyt Miller, William B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank,

Shepard Pond, Albert Gallatin, George H. Sullivan, Edward T.*Honorary Councillors for Life.



THE COUNCIL 365Newell, T.K. Schmuck, Elliott Smith, Herbert E. Winlock,Herbert E. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, Harrold E. Gilling-ham, Stephen H.P. Pell, Mortiz Wormser, and John W. Garrett.*Term beginning January 14, 1939Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, Moritz Wormser,

Hoyt Miller, William B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank,Shepard Pond, Albert Gallatin, George H. Sullivan, Edward T.Newell, Elliott Smith, Herbert E. Winlock, Herbert E. Ives,Archer M. Huntington, T.K. Schmuck, and John W. Garrett.*Term beginning January 14, 1940Herbert E. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H. P. Pell, Moritz Wormser,Hoyt Miller, William B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank,

Shepard Pond, Albert Gallatin, George H. Sullivan, Edward T.Newell, Elliott Smith, Herbert E. Winlock, and John W. Garrett.*Term beginning January 11, 1941Edward T. Newell, Elliott Smith, T. Leslie Shear, Herbert E.Ives, Archer M. Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie, Harrold E. Gil-lingham, Stephen H. P. Pell, George W. Husker, Hoyt Miller,William B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank, Shepard Pond,Albert Gallatin, George H. Sullivan, John W. Garrett,* and

Herbert E. Winlock.*Term beginning January 10, 1942Shepard Pond, Albert Gallatin, George H. Sullivan, Arthur S.Dewing, Elliott Smith, T. Leslie Shear, Herbert E. Ives, GeorgeW. Husker, Archer M. Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie, HarroldE. Gillingham, Stephen H.P. Pell, Hoyt Miller, William B. Os-good Field, Samuel R. Milbank, John W. Garrett,* and Her-bert Winlock.*

Term beginning January 9, 1943Hoyt Miller, William B. Osgood Field, Samuel R. Milbank,Louis C. West, Shepard Pond, George H. Sullivan, Arthur S.Dewing, Elliott Smith, T. Leslie Shear, Herbert E. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie, Harrold E. Gillingham,Stephen H. P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, Albert Gallatin,* andHerbert E. Winlock.** Honorary Councillors for Life.



366 THE COUNCILTerm beginning January 15, 1944Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H. P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson,Hoyt Miller, Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, ShepardPond, Louis C. West, George H. Sullivan, Arthur S. Dewing,Alfred R. Bellinger, T. Leslie Shear, Herbert E. Ives, Archer M.

Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie. William B. Osgood Field,*Elliott Smith,* Albert Gallatin,* and Herbert Winlock.*Term beginning January 13, 1945Herbert E. Ives, Archer M. Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie,Harrold E. Gillingham, Stephen H. P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson,Hoyt Miller, Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, ShepardPond, Louis C. West, George H. Sullivan, Arthur S. Dewing,Alfred R. Bellinger, T. Leslie Shear. Wm. B. Osgood Field,*

Albert Gallatin,* and Herbert E. Winlock.*Term beginning January 12, 1946Arthur S. Dewing, Alfred R. Bellinger, Frederick M. Watkins,Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives, Douglas P. Dickie, Jo-seph C. Hostetler, Stephen H.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, HoytMiller, Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Lewis M.Reagan, Louis C. West, George H. Sullivan, Wm. B. OsgoodField,* Albert Gallatin,* Harrold E. Gillingham,* and Herbert

Winlock.*Term beginning January 11, 1947Robert I. Nesmith, Louis C. West, George H. Sullivan, Arthur S. Dewing, Alfred R. Bellinger, Benjamin D. Merritt, Herbert E.Ives, Archer M. Huntington, Douglas P. Dickie, Joseph C. Hos-tetler, Stephen H.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, Hoyt Miller,Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Wm. B. Osgood Field,*Albert Gallatin,* H.E. Gillingham,* and Herbert Winlock.*

Term beginning January 10, 1948Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Robert I.Nesmith, George H. Sullivan, Louis C. West, Alfred R. Bellinger,Arthur S. Dewing, Robert B. Warren, Douglas P. Dickie, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives, Joseph C. Hostetler, StephenH.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, Wm. B. Osgood Field,* AlbertGallatin,* Harrold E. Gillingham,* and Herbert E. Winlock.** Honorary Councillors for Life.



THE COUNCIL 367Term beginning January 15, 1949Joseph C. Hostetler, Stephen H.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, LouisC. West, Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller,George H. Sullivan, Robert I. Nesmith, Alfred Bellinger, Arthur S. Dewing, Robert B. Warren, Douglas P. Dickie, Archer M.

Huntington, Herbert E. Ives, William B. Osgood Field,* HerbertE. Winlock,* Harrold E. Gillingham,* and Albert Gallatin.*Term beginning January 14, 1950Douglas P. Dickie, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,Joseph C. Hostetler, Stephen H.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson,Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Robert I.Nesmith, Alfred M. Friend, Jr., Louis C. West, Alfred R. Bellin-

ger, Arthur S. Dewing, Robert B. Warren. Harrold E. Gilling-ham,* Albert Gallatin,* and George H. Sullivan.*Term beginning January 13, 1951Alfred R. Bellinger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin,Douglas P. Dickie, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,Louis C. West, Joseph C. Hostetler, A. Carson Simpson, MaximeA. Velay, Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller,Albert M. Friend, Jr., Robert I. Nesmith, Albert Gallatin,*Harrold E. Gillingham,* and George H. Sullivan.*Term beginning January 12, 1952Albert M. Friend, Jr., Robert I. Nesmith, Louis C. West, AlfredR. Bellinger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin, Douglas P.Dickie, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives, Joseph C. Hos-tetler, A. Carson Simpson, Maxime A. Velay, Damon G. Dou-glas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Albert Gallatin,* George

H. Sullivan,* and Harrold E. Gillingham.*Term beginning January 10, 1953Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Alfred M.Friend, Jr., Robert I. Nesmith, Louis C. West, Alfred R. Bellin-ger, A. Carson Simpson, William H. Dillistin, Arthur S. Dew-ing, Archer M. Huntington, Joseph C. Hostetler, Maxime A.Velay, Albert Gallatin,* Harrold E. Gillingham,* and George

H. Sullivan.** Honorary Councillors for Life.



368 THE COUNCILTerm beginning January 16, 1954Joseph C. Hostetler, A. Carson Simpson, Maxime A. Velay,Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Albert M.Friend, Jr., Robert I. Nesmith, Louis C. West, Alfred R. Bellin-ger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin, Archer M. Hunt-

ington, Harald Ingholt, Wheaton J. Lane, Albert Gallatin,*and George H. Sullivan.*Term beginning January 15, 1955Archer M. Huntington, Harald Ingholt, Wheaton J. Lane, Fre-derick M. Watkins, A. Carson Simpson, Maxime A. Velay,Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Albert M.Friend, Jr., Louis C. West, Robert I. Nesmith, Alfred R. Bellin-

ger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin, Albert Gallatin,*and George H. Sullivan.*Term beginning January 14, 1956Alfred R. Bellinger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin,Harald Ingholt, Wheaton J. Lane, Baldwin Maull, Frederick M.Watkins, A. Carson Simpson, Maxime A. Velay, Damon G.Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, Albert M. Friend,Jr., Louis C. West, Robert I. Nesmith, Albert Gallatin,* andGeorge H. Sullivan.*Term beginning January 12, 1957Robert I. Nesmith, Erik Sjoqvist, Louis C. West, Alfred R. Bel-linger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin, Harald Ingholt,Wheaton J. Lane, Baldwin Maull, Frederick M. Watkins, A.Carson Simpson, Maxime A. Velay, Damon G. Douglas, SamuelR. Milbank, Hoyt Miller, and Albert Gallatin.*

Term beginning January 11, 1958Damon G. Douglas, Samuel R. Milbank, Cornelius C. Ver-meule, III, Robert I. Nesmith, Erik Sjoqvist, Louis C. West,Alfred R. Bellinger, Arthur S. Dewing, William H. Dillistin,Harald Ingholt, Wheaton J. Lane, Baldwin Maull, Frederick M. Watkins, A. Carson Simpson, Maxime A. Velay, and AlbertGallatin.*

* Honorary Councillors for Life.



GOVERNORS 369GOVERNORSTerm beginning February 21, 1910Edward D. Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. OsgoodField, Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr.Term beginning February 18, 1911

Edward D. Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. OsgoodField, Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr.Term beginning February 17, 1912Edward D. Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. OsgoodField, Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr.Term beginning January 25, 1913Edward D. Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood

Field, Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr.Term beginning January 21, 1914Edward D. Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. OsgoodField, Archer M. Huntington, Daniel Parish, Jr.Term beginning January 27, 1915Edward D. Adams, Henry Russell Drowne, William B. OsgoodField, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 28, 1916Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 20, 1917Henry Russell Drowne, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T.Newell, John Reilly, Jr., John I. Waterbury.Term beginning January 12, 1918Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.

Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 11, 1919Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 10, 1920Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.

24



370 GOVERNORSTerm beginning January 18, 1921Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 14, 1922Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 13, 1923Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 13, 1924Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.

Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 22, 1925Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Archer M.Huntington, Edward T. Newell, John Reilly, Jr.Term beginning January 9, 1926Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.

Term beginning January 14, 1927Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 14, 1928Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 12, 1929

Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 11, 1930Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 10, 1931Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.



GOVERNORS 371Term beginning January 9, 1932Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 14, 1933Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 13, 1934Henry Russell Drowne, William B. Osgood Field, Albert Galla-tin, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 12, 1935William B. Osgood Field, Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gilling-

liarn. Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 11, 1936William B. Osgood Field, Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gilling-ham, Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell.Term beginning January 11, 1937Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Hunting-ton, Edward T. Newell, Herbert E. Winlock

Term beginning January 15, 1938Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Hunting-ton, Edward T. Newell, Stephen H.P.Pell.Term beginning January 14, 1939Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Hunting-ton, Edward T. Newell, Stephen H.P. Pell.Term beginning January 14, 1940

Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Hunting-ton, Edward T. Newell, Stephen H.P. Pell.Term beginning January 11, 1941Albert Gallatin, Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Hunting-ton, Edward T. Newell, Stephen H.P. Pell.Term beginning January 10, 1942Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,Samuel R. Milbank, Stephen H.P. Pell.



372 GOVERNORSTerm beginning January 9, 1943Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,Samuel R. Milbank, Stephen H.P. Pell.Term beginning January 15, 1944Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,Stephen H.P.Pell, Shepard Pond.Term beginning January 13, 1945Harrold E. Gillingham, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,Stephen H.P. Pell, Shepard Pond.Term beginning January 12, 1946Arthur S. Dewing, Archer M. Huntington, Herbert E. Ives,

Stephen H.P. Pell, Louis C. West.Term beginning January 11, 1947Arthur S. Dewing, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,Stephen H.P. Pell, Louis C. West.Term beginning January 10, 1948Arthur S. Dewing, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,Stephen H.P. Pell, Louis C. West.

Term beginning January 15, 1949Damon G. Douglas, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,Stephen H.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, Louis C. West.Term beginning January 14, 1950Damon G. Douglas, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,Stephen H.P. Pell, A. Carson Simpson, Louis C. West.Term beginning January 13, 1951

Damon G. Douglas, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,A. Carson Simpson, Louis C. West.Term beginning January 12, 1952Damon G. Douglas, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,A. Carson Simpson, Louis C. West.Term beginning January 10, 1953Damon G. Douglas, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,A. Carson Simpson, Louis C. West.



COUNCIL COMMITTEES 373Term beginning January 16, 1954Damon G. Douglas, Archer M. Huntington, Samuel R. Milbank,A. Carson Simpson, Louis C. West.EXECUTIVE COMMITTEETerm beginning January 15, 1955Louis C. West, A. Carson Simpson, Samuel R. Milbank, Whea-tonj. Lane, Arthur S. Dewing, Archer M. Huntington.Term beginning January 14, 1956Louis C. West, A. Carson Simpson, Samuel R. Milbank, WheatonJ. Lane, Arthur S. Dewing.Term beginning January 12, 1957

Louis C. West, A. Carson Simpson, Samuel R. Milbank, Whea-ton J. Lane, Arthur S. Dewing.Term beginning January 11, 1958Louis C. West, Samuel R. Milbank, A. Carson Simpson, Whea-ton J. Lane, Arthur S. Dewing.FINANCE COMMITTEETerm beginning January 15, 1955

Samuel R. Milbank, Wheaton J. Lane, A. Carson Simpson,Louis C. West.Term beginning January 14, 1956Samuel R. Milbank, Wheaton J. Lane, A. Carson Simpson,Louis C. West.Term beginning January 12, 1957Samuel R. Milbank, Wheaton J. Lane, A. Carson Simpson,

Louis C. WestTerm beginning January 11,1958Samuel R. Milbank, Wheaton J. Lane, Baldwin Maull, LouisC. West.



374 HUNTINGTON MEDAL AWARDARCHER M. HUNTINGTON MEDAL AWARDEdward T. Newell 1918Mrs. Agnes Baldwin Brett 1919Howland Wood 1920Jean N. Svoronos 1921

Ernest Babelon 1922Sir George F. Hill 1923Albert R. Frey 1924Sir George Macdonald 1925Jose Toribio Medina 1926Robert James Eidlitz 1927Edouard von Zambaur 1928Kurt Regling 1929

Bauman L. Belden 1930Harrold E. Gillingham 1931Adolph Dieudonne 1932Wilhelm Kubitschek 1933Adrien Blanchet 1934E. Stanley G. Robinson 1935John Allan 1936Sydney P. Noe 1937

Harold Mattingly 1938Sir Arthur J. Evans 1940Albert Gallatin 1941Alfred R. Bellinger 1943J. Grafton Milne 1944A. F. Pradeau 1945Max Bernhart 1946Richard Bertram Whitehead 1947

J. W. E. Pearce 1948George C. Miles 1949C. H. V. Sutherland 1950Henri Seyrig 1952Walter Havernick 1953Charles T. Seltman 1954John Walker 1955Jocelyn M. C. Toynbee 1956Arthur Suhle 1957



SALTUS MEDAL AWARD 375J. SANFORD SALTUS MEDAL AWARDJames E. Eraser 1919

A. A. Weinman 1920John Flanagan 1921Victor D. Brenner 1922Hermon A. MacNeil 1923Paul Manship 1925

Mrs. Laura G. Fraser 1926Anthony de Francisci 1927Edward W. Sawyer 1931Lee Lawrie 1937

Chester Beach Ig46Henry Kreis 1948C. P. Jennewein 1949Gertrude K. Lathrop 1950Albert Laessle 1951Bruce Moore 1952Walker Hancock 1953Sidney Waugh 1954Theodore Spicer-Simson 1955

Thomas G. Lo Medico 1956



376 BENEFACTORSBENEFACTORSSamuel P. Avery 1916W. Gedney Beatty 1941F. C. C. Boyd 1956

Helen L. Boyd 1957Mrs. Emma B. Brunner 1938Catherine E. Bullowa 1957David M. Bullowa 1953Jean B. Cammann 1955George H. Clapp 1937Robert J. Eidlitz 1935

Sadie B. (Mrs. Robert J.) Eidlitz 1940DeWitt Clinton Falls 1938Arthur J.Fecht 1948William B. Osgood Field 1946James B. Ford 1926Edward Cans 1957

Harrold E. Gillingham 1937Anna Hyatt (Mrs. Archer M.) Huntington 1943Arabella D. (Mrs. H. E.) Huntington 1906Archer M. Huntington 1906Herbert E. Ives 1954Hoyt Miller 1957Adra M. (Mrs. Edward T.) Newell 1952

Edward T. Newell 1918Daniel Parish, Jr. 1908Wayte Raymond 1950Miss Frances S. (Mrs. E. N. Baynes) Reilly 1938J. Sanford Saltus 1909Louis H. Schroeder 1946Herbert Scoville 1937



PATRONS377PATRONSEdward D. AdamsF. L. Baer John H. Ballantine, Jr.Rachel T. HarringtonP. Hackley BarhydtWilliam P. Beaver Harold Wilmerding BellBurton Y. BerryF. C. C. BoydtRichard P. BreadenCatherine E. BullowaDavid M. Bullowa

Mrs. Helen C. ChapmanWilliam L. Clark Jay B. CornellHenry Russell DrowneJerome M. EisenbergO. P. EklundJames W. EllsworthDe Witt EndicottMrs. George EndicottWilliam B. Osgood FieldAlbert GallatinIsaac E. GatesHoward D. GibbsMrs. Albert E. GoodhartEdward GordonIsaac J. GreenwoodCharles GregoryHenry Grunthal

Christian G. Gunther Julius GuttagMrs. George L. HamiltonMortimer HammelEdwin HawleyHerbert E. IvesEmil W. Kohn,Martin F. KortjohnRichard H. LawrenceMrs. Richard H. Lawrence19061949194519271912191919461950

195019551955194619481955191219261954194719071935193519201929190619431937

19521907190619511951193419511946190619371943194919061937



378 PATRONSPATRONSFrank I. Liveright 1925Thomas O. Mabbott 1952Paul Manship 1929Alastair B. Martin 1955Emerson McMillin 1914

Ferriss P. Merritt 1924Samuel R. Milbank 1954Hoyt Miller 1928B. Morgenthau 1948Robert I. Nesmith 1957Adra M. (Mrs. Edward T.) Newell 1925James B. Nies 1922R. Henry Norweb 1957

Mrs. R. Henry Norweb 1956Alexandre Orlowski 1948Stephen H. P. Pell 1915William R. Powell 1920Henry A. Ramsden 1913Wayte Raymond 1930Alfred Z. Reed 1949ReillyJohn.Jr. 1928Robert Robertson 1930Medora S. (Mrs. J. Sanford) Saltus 1906Mortimer L. Schiff 1906Max M. Schwartz 1957Henri Seyrig 1945A. Carson Simpson 1953Elliott Smith 1925Inc. Stack's 1957Foster Stearns 1951

George H. Sullivan 1939W. Oilman Thompson 1928Herbert Valentine 1912Felix M. Warburg 1906Casey A. Wood 1933Rowland Wood 1919William H. Woodin 1922Charles M. Wormser 1950

Arthur C. Wyman 1937Farran Zerbe 1947



INDEXItalic numerals refer to illustrations facing the pages designated.Aboukir medallions, 189Academy of Medicine Building, 106, 113,114, 115, 116, 116, 117Adams, Edgar H., 152, 154Adams, Edward D., 119, 120, 121, 133, 156,166, 176, 178, 186, 192, 217Adams, Herbert, 149, 166Adelson, Howard L., viii, 296, 303Ahlborn, Madam Lea, 102, 103, 113, 126Aitken, Robert, 224Albert, King of the Belgians, 204, 218, 220,222Alexander, John W., 166, 169

Alfoldi, Andreas, 277Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, 218Ali Shar (coins from), 240Alliance Frangaise, 224American Academy of Arts and Letters, 140,224, 233, 236American Council of Learned Societies, 247American Geographical Society, 24, 73, 74,84, 140American Journal of Numismatics, 21, 52, 53, 56,57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 86,126, 150, 151, 226, 227, 228, 229, 244American Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety, see also American NumismaticSociety, 10, 11,34, 144American Numismatic Association, 152,(1910 Convention): 160, 163, 164; 165,202, 211, 212, (1922 Nat'l Convention):

253, 302American Numismatic Series, 152American Numismatic Society, see also Amer-ican Numismatic and Archaeological So-ciety, 11, 34, 140, 149, 156, 158, 164Building improvement, 284, 285, 286, 288,289, 304Change in character, 276Change in name, 157, 158, 253Coin Cabinet, 30, 145, 150, 234, 246Collections: (Mickley), 6; (Atkinson), 14;(Yale), 27; (Groh), 16; (State seals), 66;(Carranza electrotypes), 105; (R. H.Lawrence books), 125; (American in-signia), 139; (St. Joan medals), 169;(Oettinger), 192; (W. R. Powell), 202;(Durkee, Oriental), 230; (Newell-Wood,Far Eastern), 230; (Newell-Valentine

Coll.), 230; (Powell), 231; (Beaver), 231;(Hoernle), 232; (Starosselsky), 232;(Nies), 232; (Longworth), 232; (Wy-man), 232, 262; (Liveright), 232; War-burg), 232; Guttag-coin press), 233;(Stevenson plaque), 255; (GampolaHoard), 257; (Chinese gold and silver bars), 260, (Reilly), 262; (E. P. Robin-son), 263; (George H. Clapp), 263; (Sco-ville), 263; (Eidlitz architectural medals)264; (George W. Husker), 264; (JohnF. Jones), 264; (Newell Coll.), 268;(Beatty), 268; (Fecht), 277; (Field), 277;(Schroeder), 278; (Strauss), 278; (His-panic Society), 278,279; (Persianhoard),281; (Ives Coll.), 282; (Cammann Coll.),282; (F. C. C. Boyd), 283; (C. WyllysBetts), 283

Donations: (Balfour) 1st donor, 30; (Endi-cott) pattern guinea, medals, 30, 31;(Groh), 139; (Saltus) Eagle coins, 156;(Gregory) Far Eastern coins, 188; (Va-lentine) U.S. coins, 188; (Lovett) med-als, 188; (Raymond) Athenian deka-drachm, 189, 281; (Huntington) medals,189; (Saltus-Huntington) decorations,war medals, Higgins Coll., 189; Lo Coll.,190; (Huntington) Bryant Coll., paper money, 190; (Parish) coins and medals,190; (Saltus) Confederate half-dollar etc.,191; (Greenwood) coins, medals, notesand library, 192; Oettinger Coll., 192;Eight thaler piece of Charles X, Gustavus379



38oINDEXofSweden, 193; (Powell Coll.), 202, 231;(W. P. Beaver), 231; (Hoernle), 232;(Gen. Starosselsky), 232; (Nies), 232;(Longworth Dames), 232; (Liveright),232; (Felix Warburg), 232; (Guttag),233; (Newell bequest), 255, 265; Steven-son plaque, 255, 256; (Dr. Casey Wood),Gampola Hoard, 257; (Kunz bequest),257; (Schnakenberg Memorial) Euro-pean coins, 260; (F. Munroe Endicott),260; (O. P. Eklund), parts of, 261;(Richard Hoe Lawrence) Roman coins,261; (Miss Frances Reilly) Reilly Coll.,262; (George H. Clapp) E. P. RobinsonCo., 263, 269; (Scoville bequest), 263;(Mrs. R. J. Eidlitz) Eidlitz Coll., 264;

(G. W. Husker), 264; (Mrs. E. T.Newell-Mrs. G. P. Cammann) JohnF.Jones Coll., 264; (E. T. Newell Coll.),268; (Beatty bequest), Greek coins,268;(Robinson-Becker) forgeries, 269; (J. J.Rorimer), 269; (Barnes), 269; (Kohn)medals, 269; (Gillingham), 270; (Fecht),277; (Field), 277; (Schroeder) StraussColl., 278; (Huntington) Maurice Gau-tier Coll ., 280; (Ives), 282; (CammannColl.), 282; (Boyd), 283; (C. W. Betts),283Committees: American Archaeology, 66;American Medals, 159; Ancient Coins,159; Building, 146, 148, 233; Buildingsand Grounds, 159; By-Laws, 12, 17, 19,20,21,35; Coins, 19; Finance, 49,50,204,205, 288; Foreign Archaeology, 66;Foreign Coins and Medals, 159, 203;Foreign Medals, 159; Incorporation, 22,23, 39, 40; Insignia, 139, 142; Library,19, 29, 107, 142, 159; Masonic Medalsand Tokens, 159; Medals, 19, 132, 133,219; Membership, 199; New CoinageDesign, 130, 155, 156, 157; Numismatic,107, 142; Oriental Coins, 159, 230;Paper Money, 159; Papers and Ex-hibitions, 167, 199; Papers and Publi-cations, 107; Publication, 151, 226, 227,228,298,301; Publication ofMedals, 171,173, 178, 214; Publicity, 199; Reorgani-zation, 289, 290, 291, 295; RoomCom-mittee, 105, 106, 107; Transactions, 19;United States Coins, 196Constitution and By-Laws, 12, 13, 17, 19,20, 21, 35, 38, 39, 56, 66, 71, 72, 124,143, 159, 162, 196, 199, 266, 287, 291,292, 293, 294Council ofAdministration, 143, 162, 245,252, 254, 266, 279ANS Exhibitions: (British Mus. Electrotypes),104; (Columbian), 126-127; (Paris Ex-position), 137-138; (Benjamin Franklin),163; (MedallicArt), 161, 165-166; (Trou-betzkoy), 167; (Private gold coins), 167;(Cariati), 168; (St. Joan), 168-169; (U.S.and Colonial coins), 170; (Paper Money),170; (Mexican coin), 170; (Indian PeaceMedals), 170; (Bismarck Medals), 171;(Medals & Insignia ofbravery & AmericanDecorations) ,171; (Bismarck, American war Medals, Iron Crosses, Indian Peace Med-als, coins of warring nations), 195; (Paper money), 200; (Eagle coins), 201; (ClareSheridan sculpture), 201; (Luther Refor-mation Medals), 201; (U.S. uniformdecorations etc.), 201; (Powell Coll.), 202;(U.S. coins, tokens, medals), 202; (Med-als by sculptors), 202; (European medals);203; (special exhibit for ANA Convention),212; (display at International ExhibitionofPersian Art, Royal Academy, London),

241; (Augustus Exhibition), 247, 251;(Coinage ofthe Americas), 267; OrientalCoins, 275-276; (International ExhibitionofMedals in Madrid), 276Fellowships, 305Fiftieth Anniversary, 148, 175, 176Finances, 21, 22, 25, 108, 116, 146, 147,149, 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210,211, 228, 236, 238, 243, 244, 263, 267,268, 273, 283, 284, 285, 302First Director, 159Founded, 11; Founders, 13Library, 29, 65, 66, 69, 70, 99, 125, 198,204, 209, 210, 234, 239, 261, 272, 273,285,295Medals: (To Gus For Valor), 10,20; (Sage),



INDEX38i10, 20; (Lincoln), 44-55, 64; (Member-ship), 78-81, 96; (Chamber ofCom-merce), 84, 124; (Anthon), 102-3; (Par-ish), 725, 126; (Columbus), 127; (St.Luke's Hospital), 130, 132; (Grant'sTomb), 130-1, 132; (Charities and Cor-rections), 131, 133; (Charter Day-Greater New York), 131-2, 140; (PrinceHenry ofPrussia), 132, 140; (AmericusVespuccius), 133, 141; (InternationalNumismatic Congress), 164, 165, 185;(International Medallic Exhibition), 161,165, 184; (Joan ofArc), 170; (Hunting-ton), 170,172, 176-7; (John Paul Jones),765, 171-3; (Sir Francis Drake), 772,173-5; (Hudson-Fulton), 177-180, 180;

(Cleveland), 180, 182; (Archdiocese of NYC), 773, 182; (Lincoln Plaque), 773,183; (New Theatre), 757, 183; (newMembership Medal), 757, 184; (SaltusAward), 185, 189; (Morgan), 186, 189;(Declaration ofWar), 196, 215-6; (St.Bartholomew), 757, 216; (Catskill Aque-duct), 797,216; (WarCommissions), 217;(Independence Day), 217-8; (King andQueen ofBelgians), 204, 218; (Peace of Versailles), 204, 219; (Joan ofArc), 205,220; (Prince ofWales), 272, 220-1; (RedCross), 273, 223; (Choate), 273, 223;(Cardinal Mercier), 223; (Foch), 220,223-1; (Paul Revere), 220, 224-5; (Ter-centenary, Purchase ofManhattan Is.),227, 225; (G. Washington Sesquicenten-nial), 235, 250Meeting places, 11, 20, 23, 24, 33, 34, 35,70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 106, 111, 772,114, 115, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148,149, 304Museumbuilding completed, 148New building, 230, 237, 235, 236Membership, 76, 77, 79, 116, 123, 124, 205,230, 276Certificate of, 25, 36Pin and badge of, 765, 175Objectives, 18Photographic facilities, 274Reorganization, 142, 143, 289, 290, 291Seal, 25, 35, 36, 37, 38, 160; motto, 158Summer Seminar, 303, 304, 305American Oriental Society, 275American Scenic and Historic PreservationSociety, 168Americus Vespuccius Medal, 133, 141Anderson, William, 43Andrew, A. Piatt, 166, 200Annuaire de la Societtfranfaise de numismatique etd'arMologie, 55, 56Anthon, Charles E., 35, 36, 37, 51, 52, 55,58,59,60, 61, 62, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 78,80, 81, 84, 89, 91, 97, 101, 103Anthon Medal, 102, 103, 773Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal, 246Applegate, J. Henry, Jr., 49, 64Appleton, WilliamSummer, 62, 63, 65Archaeological collection, 68, 70, 71, 99, 100Archdiocese ofNew York Medal, 773, 182Architectura Numismatica, T. L. Donaldson, 249Architectural League ofNew York, 129, 214Aristidean, A Magazine ofReviews, Politics, andLight Literature, 15Astor Library, 4, 20, 21Athenian dekadrachm, 188, 189, 280Athole, George C., 75Atkinson, Asher T., 12, 13, 149Audubon, John James, 144Audubon Park, 144Audubon Terrace, 145, 224, 234; iron gate

and fence, 286Augustus 1 inn i lion limn Exhibition, 247, 251Avery, Samuel P. Jr., 188, 193Avery, Samuel P. Sr., 193Avery (Samuel P.) Fund, 193, 203Babelon, Ernest, 151, 165, 185Backus, Henry Clinton, 120, 144, 145Baker, DeVere W., 275Balfour, Arthur James, 217Balfour, David M., 30Bancroft, George, 47, 48Barber, Charles E., 101, 102Barber, WilliamF., 46, 47, 155Barhydt, Parish Hackley, 139Barnes, Henry B., 269



382INDEXBeach, Chester, 149, 219Beatty, W. Gedney, 210, 214, 268Beatty (W. Gedney) Purchase Fund, 210, 268Beaver, WilliamP., 231Bechtler coin press, 230, 233Beekman, Gerard Jr., 120, 122Beisan, finds from, 241Belden, Bauman L., 121, 132, 138, 141, 143,144,145, 147, 149, 151, 152, 158, 159, 163,164, 168, 176, 190, 191, 197, 198, 199, 200,203, 208, 229, 232, 233, 257Bellinger, Alfred, 238, 240, 241, 245, 274,297, 298Ben Bolt, 14Beth-Shan, coins from, 240Beth-Zur, coins from, 240

Betts, Benjamin, 67, 71, 72, 73, 81, 96, 102,108, 121, 149Betts, C. Wyllys, 283, 318Bible House, 23, 28, 29Bibliography ofGreek Coin Hoards: S. P. Noe,242Bloor, Alfred J., 119, 121, 132Borglum, Gutzon, 184Bosselt, Rudolf, 185Boston Numismatic Society, 26, 47, 57, 62,63, 82, 149Boston Public Library, 169Boughton, Alfred, 13Boyce, Aline Abaecherli, 275Boyd, Frederick C. C., 283Bramhall, WilliamLeggett, 22, 28, 30Breaden, Richard P., 295Brenner, Victor D., 131, 132, 133, 133, 136,137, 138, 149, 152, 153, 155, 156, 158, 171,173, 175Brett, Agnes (Baldwin), 152, 159, 160, 161,165, 167, 203, 209, 227, 229, 273, 307Brewer, Fiske P., 27Brewer, Josiah, 27Bridges, G. T. M., 217Brinton, Christian, 167British and French War Commissions Medal,217British Museum, 86, 89, 90, 91, 93, 104British Numismatic Society, 214, 218Brock, R. C. H., 189Brooklyn Museum, 169Brown, Mortimer S., 24, 33Browning, J. Hull, 132, 134Brunner, Emma, 263Bryant Collection ofPaper Money, 190Buckley, John J., 290Bullowa, Catherine E. (Mrs. David M.), 281Bullowa, David M., 281Burglary, 252Burns, Charles DeF., 43Bushnell, Charles I., 10, 11Cammann Collection, 282Cammann, Jean B. (Mrs. George P.), 264,265, 282Cannon, Henry W., 178Cariati, Giovanni, 168Carranza, Carlos, 104, 105Catacombs Hoard, 261Catskill Aqueduct Medal, 197, 216, 217Century Association, 223Cesnola Collection, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 95,98Cesnola, Luigi Palma di, 84,85,86, 87, 88, 89,91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98Chamber ofCommerce ofthe State ofNewYork, medal, 84, 124Champion, Henry, 40, 41Changes in American monetary system, 7,8,9Charities and Corrections, Twenty-fifth Na-tional Conference of, 131; medal of, 131,133

Chicago Numismatic and ArchaeologicalSociety, 26, 155Choate, Joseph Hodges, medal of213, 223Chow Dynasty, 260Clapp, George H., 263, 269, 279, 280Clark, WilliamL., 246, 247Cleveland, Grover, 181Cleveland Plaquette, 180, 181Coates, Edward H., 45Cogan, Edward, 6, 7, 10, 56Coin collecting, 5, 7, 164Coin design, 127, 129, 152, 153, 154, 155;Eagle and Double Eagle, 156; Lincoln cent,"Mercury" head dime; Liberty quarter and half-dollar, 157; changes, 196



INDEX383Coin Hoards (S. P. Noe), 242Coinages of Demetrius Poliorcetes, (E. T. Newell),229Colburn, Jeremiah, 62, 63The Collector, 126College of the City of NewYork, 35, 37, 70,72, 74, 75, 97, 101, 102, 129Columbian Exposition, 126, 127Columbus Medal, 127Comparette, T. L., 196Confederate half-dollar (donated by Saltus),191, 221, 231Cook, Clarence, 88

Cooper Institute, 23, 24, 31Cooper, Peter, 23Cooper Union, 23, 24, 29, 48Corinth finds, 240Cornell, Jay B., 108Council of Management of the Society, 22Cox, Dorothy, 247Cummings, Edward S., 24Cypriote Museum at Nicosia, 280Dames, Longworth, Collection, 232de Cartier, Baron, 222Declaration of War Medal, 196, 215, 216de Francisci, Anthony, 224Demanhur Hoard, 260De Morgan, Henri, 108De Peyster, Frederick J., 72, 96, 121De Peyster, John Watts, 72, 96", 121Devinney, George W. - Collection of Deco-

rations and War Medals, 189Devreese, Godefroid, 166, 184, 185Dewing, Arthur S., 284, 288, 293DeZayas, George, 259Dickie, Douglas P., 266Dictionary of Numismatic Names (A. R. Frey),226Dielman, Frederick, 134DeKay, Charles, 152de Lagerberg, Julius 149Dodd, Charles G., 777, 132, 151Dodd, John M. Jr., 105, 106, 107, 110, 111,121, 129Dodge, Robert J., 20, 21, 34, 35Dodge, William E., 121Douglas, Damon G., 288, 289Drake (Sir Francis) Medal, 77?, 173, 174,175

Drowne, Henry Russell, 110, 111, 113, 115,116, 120, 129, 137, 143, 144, 149, 154,197,221Dubois, William E., 53, 64Dunscomb, S. Whitney, Jr., 153, 158Dura-Europos, coins from, 240Durkee, Joseph H. (Collection of Orientalcoins), 230, 265Earle, James, 43Eastern Exhibition Hall, 285, 286, 288Ecklund, O. P., 261Edward, Prince of Wales, 220, 221Eidlitz, Robert James, 196, 205, 214, 216, 217,235, 236, 252, 264, 283; Robert J. EidlitzBuilding Maintenance Fund, 283Eidlitz, Sadie (Mrs. Robert James), 264Edler, Thomas L., 153, 154, 155, 757, 158Electrum Coinage ofLampsakos (AgnesBaldwin),

229Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, 204, 218,220, 222Ely, Richard S., 94Emmons, Brooks, 303Endicott, Charles B., 25, 30Endicott, DeWitt, 260Endicott, F. Munroe, Collection, 260, 261Endicott, Mrs. George, 260English, Thomas Dunn, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17,18, 19, 21Essex County Antiquarian and NumismaticSociety, 26Excavation Groups (submit coins for study),240, 241Falls, DeWitt Clinton, 263Fecht, Arthur J., Collection, 277Fecht Coin Purchase Fund, 277Fecht, Neoma, 277, 283Feuardent, Gaston, 74, 75, 76, 83, 84, 85, 86,87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97,98, 105, 108Field, William B. Osgood, 185, 189, 216,226, 277



384INDEXFlanagan, John, 212, 221Flying eagle cent, 9Foch, Ferdinand, 223, 224Foch Medal, 220, 223, 224Foskett, James D., 11, 13, 19, 23, 24, 29, 30Franklin (Benjamin) Medals and Coins Ex-hibition, 163Franklin Institute ofSyracuse, 30Fraser, James Earl, 157, 196, 214French, Daniel Chester, 149, 166, 216, 217,223French Institute, MuseumofFrench Art,168Frey, Albert R., 151, 221, 226Friends' Academy, 13Fuchs, Emil, 176, 178, 186

Fulton, Robert, 177, 179, 180Gampola Hoard, 257Gates, Milo H., 145, 148, 155Gautier Collection, 280Gay, Joseph E., 43German Numismatic Congress, 276Gibbs, Isaac Hand, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20Gillingham, Harrold E., 198, 209, 221, 255,269Gold Coinage ofLatin America (H. F. Will iams),229Gold piece, Commemorating victory at NewOrleans by Andrew Jackson, struck byCongress, 257Gorringe, Henry H., 83Gould, George J., 121Grabar, Oleg, 303Grant, Ulysses S., 131Grant's Tomb Medal, 130, 131, 132Green, Samuel Abbott, 62, 63Greenwood, Isaac J., 29, 33, 34, 35, 39, 192Gregory, Charles, 111, 121, 725, 126, 188,194Grierson, Philip, 277Groh, Edward, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 21, 22, 33,39, 40, 43, 61, 67, 68, 69,120, 138,139,144Groh, Mrs. Edward, 192Groh Loving Cup, 144, 192GrolierClub, 110, 132Grunthal, Henry, 296Gunther, Charles G., 280; Gunther MemorialCollection, 280Gunther, Christian, 280Guttag, Julius, 230, 233Hadden, John Aspinwall, 121Hall, Edward Hagaman, 131Hall ofthe Board ofEducation, 35, 48Hanna, John, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49,57, 59, 62Hart, Henry O., 11, 12Harvey, Eli, 149, 215Hastings, Thomas, 166Havemeyer, Henry O., 121Hetrick, George, 139Hewitt, Harry M., 122Hewitt, Robert, Jr., 36, 41, 42, 43, 49, 61, 84,94, 102, 120, 121,Hickox, John Howard, 29Higgins Collection - medals ofFrench Revo-lution, 189Hill, Ezra, 12, 13, 30Hill, George F., 228Hispanic Numismatic Series, 279, 300, 301Hispanic Society ofAmerica, 140, 143, 144,145, 146,148,149, 150, 158, 165, 167, 210,246, 275, 278, 279, 300Hispanic Society ofAmerica Collection, 278,279Histoire Metallique de Napoleon le Grand, Em-pereur et Roi, by E. Babelon, 151Historical Account ofAmerican Coinage, by JohnHoward Hickox, 29

History ofThe American Numismatic and Archae-ological Society, with Lists ofFounders, In-corporators, Officers and Members, by WilliamR. Weeks, 109Hoernle, Dr. A. F. R., Collection, 232, 265Hoffman, Samuel V., 120Hornsby, Roger, 303Houdon, Jean-Antoine, 172Hudson, Henry, 177, 178, 179, 180Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission,177, 178, 179; Medal Committee, 178Hudson-Fulton Medal, 77, 178, 179, 180,180Huntington, Anna Vaughn (Hyatt), 169,170, 220, 306



INDEX385Huntington, Arabella D., 194, 207, estate of,283Huntington, Archer M., 139, 140, 141, 144,144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 150, 155, 158, 159,160, 162, 164, 167, 171, 175, 177, 178, 185,187, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 197, 202,206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 226, 229, 233, 235,243, 244, 273, 277, 278, 280, 285, 286, 305,505, 306, 307, 308Huntington (Archer M.) Award, 246Huntington (Archer M.) Collection, see His-panic Society CollectionHuntington Free Library and Reading Room,

210, 238, 239,Huntington (Archer M) Fund, 306Huntington (Archer M) medal, 142, 170,172, 175, 176, 177, 213Huntington Plaque, 305, 306Huntington, Charles P., 145Husker, George W., Collection, 264Hyde, Frederick E., 134Independence Day Medal, 217, 218Indian Head nickel, 157Indian Peace Medals, 170, 194, 232Indian Peace Medals (B. L. Belden), 229"In God We Trust" (1918 cent), 157Ingholt, Prof. Harald, viiInstitut Franchise aux fitats-Unis, 224International Exhibition of ContemporaryMedals, 166, 167; Medal of, 767, 166;Catalogue of, 167

International Exhibition of Medallic Art,76â€¢7, 165, 166, 184International Exhibition of Medals (Madrid),276International Exhibition of Persian Art, 241International Numismatic Congress (Brussels),164, 165, 185International Numismatic Congress Medal,164, 165, 185Ives, Herbert E., 235, 267, 273, 274, 278, 279,282, 287, 288, 289, 292, 293, 297, 298Ives (Herbert E.) Collection, 282Jaegers, Albert, 129, 130Jaudon, Frank H., 24, 28Jenkins, G. K., 277Joan of Arc Exhibition, 168, 169Joan of Arc Medal, 170, 205, 220Joan of Arc Statue Committee, 168, 169

Joffre, Joseph, 217Johnson, Andrew, 47, 48Johnson, Raymond, 275Jones, John F., Collection, 264Jones, John Paul, Medal, 765, 171, 172, 173Jourdain, Jules, 223Kenney, Richard D., 295King and Queen of the Belgians Medal, 204,Kohn, Emil W., 269 [218Kunz, George F., 777, 127, 128, 129, 130, 137,138, 143, 153, 155, 168, 175, 196, 221, 257Lagerberg, Magnus Emmanuel, 149Lane, Wheaton J., viii, ixLangdon, Woodbury G., 134, 135, 136Lawrence, Cyrus J., 65, 93, 121Lawrence, Jessie C. (Mrs. Richard Hoe), 261Lawrence, Richard Hoe, 90, 121, 125, 261Lawrence, Theophilus W., 12, 19

Leathe, Frank, 39, 40, 44Lectures at Preparatory Schools, 248, 249Lehmann, Karl, 249Lepethus, 240Levick, Joseph N. T., 29, 42, 43, 56, 57, 59,60, 61, 62, 70, 72Liberty quarter and half-dollar, 157Lincoln (Abraham) Memorial Medal, 44, 45,47,48,49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55,64; LincolnPlaque, 173, 183Liveright, Frank I., Collection, 232Lober, George, 273Lo Collection - Chinese coins, 190, 230London Numismatic Society, 28Long, Huey, 258Long (Huey) Medal, 259, 260Longman, Evelyn B., 217Lossing, Benson J., 25Lovett, George H., 38, 78, 184, 188Low, Lyman H., 63, 102, 105, 110, 111, 773,120, 121, 151, 160Mabbott, Thomas O., 273MacNeil, Herman A., 157, 166, 196, 22526



386INDEXMain, Raymond E., 247, 297Maine Centennial HalfDollar, 224Maintenance Fund, 236Manchester Numismatic Society, 65Manuel II, King ofPortugal, 218Marshall, Rudolph, 173, 174Marvin, WilliamT. R., 145, 149, 150, 151,162Mastercraft Associates, 285Mayers, WilliamS. Frederick, 25, 27, 30McCoy, John F., 36, 43, 51McKinley, William, 131McMillan, Emerson, 193Medallic Art Company, 181, 202, 203, 257,260Megiddo (coins from), 240

Melber, Jacob J., 13Mellen, Charles S., 121Membership Medal, 78, 79, 80, 81, 132;(New), 181, 184Memphis, finds from, 241Mercier, Cardinal ofBelgiumMedal, 223"Mercury" head dime, 157Merritt, Ferris P., 210Merritt Fund, 210Metropolitan MuseumofArt, 85, 86, 87, 88,89, 90, 92, 93, 95, 97, 98, 132, 178, 189,216, 230, 265, 269Mickley, Joseph J., 6, 20Milbank, Samuel R., 254, 266, 286, 288Miles, George C., 242, 254, 275, 279, 296Miller, Hoyt, 283Mills Collection, 265"Minniesland," 144Minturno hoards, 240Mitchel, John Purroy, 217Morgan Collection, 189, 201, 274Morgan, J. Pierpont, 165, 172, 185, 186, 188,189, 189Morgan Library, 189, 272Morgan, Sherley W., 285, 286Mosser, Sawyer McA., x, 209, 245, 290, 294,298Mott, A. B., 74, 75Mott Memorial Hall, 72, 73, 74, 75Muhlenberg, WilliamAugustus, 130Munro, Neil Gordon, Collection, 262Murphy, WilliamW., 64Murray, Joseph K., 39, 40MuseumNotes, 297, 298, 300, 301Museumofthe American Indian-Heye Foun-dation, 140, 239National Academy ofDesign, 129, 133, 134,214, 217National Academy ofSciences, 130National Arts Club, 214, 217The National Cyclopedia ofAmerican Biography,21National Sculpture Society, 128, 129, 149,202, 214Nesmith, Robert I., 274The New AmsterdamGazette, 126Newell, Adra M. (Mrs. Edward T.), 264, 268,272, 273, 281, 283Newell, Edward T., 141, 142, 144, 151, 186,189,196, 200, 202, 204, 205, 207, 209, 211,216, 221, 223, 226, 227, 229, 230, 231, 232,234, 234, 235, 237, 238, 239, 244, 245, 252,253, 254, 255, 258, 259, 260,265,266, 284,308Newell Coin Purchase Fund, 268Newell Collection, 268, 272, 284Newell Fellowship, 302, 303Newell Memorial plaque, 273Newell Publication Fund, 244, 268Newell RoomLibrary, 272, 273New England Numismatic and Archaeo-logical Society, 26, 57

New Haven Numismatic Society, 26, 40, 41,47Newman, Allen G., 217New Theatre Medal, 181, 183New York Genealogical and BiographicalSociety, 73, 113, 114, 115New York Herald, 45, 121New-York Historical Society, 52, 84, 117,118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 140,225New York Numismatic Club, 157, 195, 212,236New York Numismatic Society, 41, 42, 43,(merger with AN&AS) 44, 56New York State Library, 29New York University, 76, 77, 110, 112



INDEX387NewYork University Institute of Fine Arts,249, 254Nexsen, John A., 43Nicoll, I. C., 134Nies, James B. - Collection, 232Noe, Sydney P., x, 161, 163, 198, 199, 200,209, 226, 227, 228, 235, 242, 245, 246, 254,276, 279, 281, 289, 290, 296, 300North, Geoffrey H., 295Norton, Frank Henry, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26,27, 28, 28, 30, 33, 34, 39, 41, 42, 56, 58, 59,60, 64, 65Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, 82

Numismatic and Archaeological Society of Baltimore, 26Numismatic Chronicle, 55Numismatic collection, 66, 69, 70, 99, 100Numismatic Journal, 55Numismatic Literature, 298, 299, 300, 301Numismatic Notes and Monographs, 212, 226,227, 228, 229, 238, 242, 243, 244, 300Numismatic Notes and Monograph Fund,208, 212, 243, 244Numismatic Society of Philadelphia, 11, 28,47, 56Numismatic Studies, 244, 301Numismatisches Literatur-Blatt, 298The Numismatist, 126, 152, 164, 211, 212,228, 261Numismatology, 126Oett inger Collection, 192

Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 30Oliver, James, 11, 12, 13, 19,.21, 24, 25, 28,33, 39, 41, 59, 67, 68, 71, 79, 123Olyphant, John Kensett, 120, 134Omactl Club, 20Oriental Institute of Chicago, 240Osborne, Charles, 83Paine, George T., 46Paris Exposition, 137, 138, medal of, 141Paris Mint, 172, 189Parish, Daniel Jr., 40,47,49,51,52,68,71, 75,101, 102, 103, 104, 113, 114, 120, 121, 124,125,125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 137, 138, 143,144, 151, 153, 155, 158, 190, 194, 261Parish medal, 125, 126Peace Dollar, 224Peace of Versailles Medal, 204, 219Pehrson, Nelson P., 158, 160, 161

Pell, Stephen H. P., 193, 200, 266, 289, 292,293Pennsylvania Society, 163Perez, Gilbert S., 227Perine, George H., 33, 35, 38, 40, 44, 47, 49,56, 57, 58, 59, 63, 68, 69, 70, 71Perry, Enoch Wood, 149Phelps, Royal, 84Pike, Charles J., 135, 136Poe, Edgar Allan, 14, 15Poillon, William, 65, 68, 69, 71, 75, 76, 94,102, 110, 113, 121, 142, 149, 152, 158Pollack, James, 82Ponce de Leon, Nestor, 73, 74Porter, Horace, 131, 172Portland Maine Transcript, 26Powell (William R.) Collection, 202, 231Pratt, Bela L., 152

Price, H. Brooks, 236Prince Henry of Prussia Medal, 132, 140Prince of Wales Medal, 205, 212, 220, 221Proceedings, 150, 211, 212, 228, 229Pryer, Charles, 113, 143, 191Publication Fund, 228, 301Publication of the Society, 211, 226, 227, 228,229, 298, 300, 301Pyne, Moses Taylor, 119, 121, 122, 134Ramsden, Henry A., 189, 262Rasmusson, Nils, 299Raymond, Wayte, 189, 280, 281Red Cross Medal 213, 223Redlich, Abraham, 35, 71Reilly Collection, 262, 263Reilly, Frances, 262Reilly, John, Jr., 151,157, 197, 204, 205, 206,209, 211, 221, 224, 226, 230, 262Revere (Paul) Medal, 220, 224, 225Revue beige de numismatique, 55Revue numismatique franfaise, 55Rhode Island Numismatic Association, 26, 46Riker, John L., 119Robertson, Robert, 234, 246



388INDEXRobinson, Edward P., 263, 269Roine, Jules Edouard, 149, 181, 183Roosevelt, Theodore, 153, 154, 155, 156Rorimer, James J., 269Ross, Albert Randolph, 129, 130Rostovzeff, Michel, 240Roty, Louis Oscar, 136Royal Numismatic Society, London, 246Ruckstuhl, F. Wellington, 149Ruggles, Samuel B., 64, 65Sage, Augustus B., 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20,21, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29Sage's (A. B.) Numismatic Gallery, 11

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 121, 129, 137, 138,152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 255, 256Saltus Award Medal, 185, 189, 191, 192,1st award to Fraser, 214Saltus Award Medal Committee, 214Saltus Award Medal Fund, 202, 213Saltus, J. Sanford, 137, 138, 149, 156, 163,169, 184, 185,188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193,194, 205, 213, 214, 215, 218, 219, 220, 221,222, 223, 224, 231Savage, Alexander Duncan, 162, 198Scharff, Anton, 192Schnakenberg, H. A., Collection, 260School for Coin and Medal Designing andDie Cutting, 116, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137Scoville, Herbert, 263Seaman, T. D. 16Sellers, Ovid, 240

Seward, William Henry, 29Seymour, William Wood, 40, 56Seyrig, Henri, 276Shear, T. Leslie, 273Sheridan, Clare, 201Shonnard, Beulah Phelps, xShroeder, Louis H., 277, 278Sigel, Emil, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55Simpson, A. Carson, 288, 289, 291, 298Smith, David E., 227Snowden, A. Louden, 82, 102Societe Hollandaise-Belge des Amis de laMedaille d'Art, 185Society Library, University Place, 34Society of American Artists, 129Sorolla y Bastida, Joaquin, 167Spicer-Simpson, Theodore, 218Spink's Numismatic Monthly, 126

Starosselsky, V. D. Collection, 232, 265St. BartholomewMedal, 797, 216Steeves, H. Alan, Jr., 290, 294Stevenson Plaque, 255, 256, 257Stevenson, Robert Louis, 255, 256Stewart, Albert, 250Stewart, William Rhinelander, 121, 131, 133Stillman, William J., 97, 98St. John's College, Fordham, 30St. Luke's Hospital Medal, 130, 132Storrs, Sir Ronald, 260Stover, C. B., 169Strauss Collection, 278Strobridge, William H., 43Strong, William L., 131Stuart, Robert L., 72Sturgis, Russell, 105, 129, 134Sullivan, Algernon S., 93, 94, 187; Medal,

187; Memorial Fund, 187Sullivan, George H., 187Sutherland, C. H. V., 276, 277, 299Swedish Numismatic Society, 149Syracuse Mechanics Association, 30Ten Eyck, Elisha, 52, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62Tercentenary of the Purchase of ManhattanIsland Medal, 221, 225, 226Thompson, Margaret, 290Thompson, William Gilman, 196, 214, 221Thompson, William P., 26Tiffany & Co., 127, 130, 131, 184Tonnele, Walter, 129Troubetskoy, Paul, Prince, 167Troy, coins from, 241Uniformity of coinage for the U. S., 37Union Dime Savings Bank, 115, 124, 143, 144United States Naval Academy, 171, 172U. S. Mint, Philadelphia, 14, 31, 53, 55, 64,81, 82, 101, 127, 128, 156University Club, 114University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 240University of the City of NewYork, 37



INDEX389U. S. Mint Manual, 10U. S. Sanitary Commission: MetropolitanFair, 63, 64Vail, John Cooper, 12, 13, 19Valentine Collection (pres ented by Newell),230, 265Valent ine, Herbert , 109, 113, 115, 120, 188Valentine, Samuel, 188Vanderbilt, William K., 121Vermeule, Cornelius C., Ill, 303Vermilya-Brown and Company, 285

Vermont Numismatic Society, 26Victor Emmanuel III, 132, 188, 218Vienna Mint, 174Viviani, M. Rene, 217Vlasto, M. P., 228von Post, Herman C., 118, 119Walter, David L., 105, 123Wang, Yu-ch'uan, 294Warburg, Felix, 232Washington Sesquicentennial Medal, 235,250Waterbury, John J., 186Watson, Loring, 43Weatherbee, Edwin H., 133Weeks, William R., 105, 107, 109, 110, 116,120, 121, 124, 143, 144, 158, 160, 161, 164

Weinman, Adolph Alexander, 157, 185, 196,214Werner, Louis S., xWest, Allen B., 241West, Louis C., x, 284, 285, 288, 289, 293, 305Western Exhibition hall, 286, 293Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society,26Westervelt, Leonidas, 227Whalen, Grover A., 224White, Owen P., 258Whitehead & Hoag Co., 177, 183, 186Whitehead, R. B., 228, 231Whitmore, Henry, 12, 13, 19Whittaker, Thomas, 134Williams, H. F., 229Wilson, James B., IllWood, Casey, 257Wood, F. Augustus see Isaac F.Wood, Howland, 160, 162, 163, 165,188, 190,201, 211, 226, 227, 228, 230, 231, 234, 242,246, 257, 265

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The American Numismatic Society 1858-1958 / by Howard L. Adelson

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